back to babylon with yunè pinku

Despite the broad gender gap in electronic music today, yunè refuses to conform, embracing the idea of "being a girl who stays feminine in the midst of that." Having collaborated with rising Australian dance star Logic1000 on her first-ever single, "What You Like," in 2021, she is still on the cusp of her own musical journey. Babylon IX feels like the next step. It is a seed of rebellion — music fit for pre-drinking, the messy afters, and even the 8 am Uber ride home.

office sat down with yunè to discuss music, the weirdness of AI, and growing up listening to Sky Ferreira.

I remember you mentioning this desire to grasp the weird "in-between" feelings that everyone has (but no one describes) in your music. How did you set this intention?

I don't know. It was always there I guess, but on the last project I worked on, I was trying to hone in on it a little bit more and just develop that idea or something. But yeah, I think it's just something that's naturally always there whenever I try and make something.

Was that project Bluff, your last EP?

Yeah.

Whenever I listen to that EP, I can't help but notice the range, as if you were discovering a new layer to your sound in the midst of making it. For example, “Laylo” and “Bluff” on the EP have a similar energy that is so different from "DC Rot" and "Affection." The last two are more similar to your latest single, “Night Light." 

It's kind of funny actually, because I guess “DC Rot” and “Affection”, which are two singles off that EP, were made at a later point. It was way closer to the time when the EP was coming out. I've actually had a few people mention that fact before, that they sound different to “Laylo” and “Bluff” and stuff. But “Bluff” and “Laylo” were made in lockdown, so I feel like they probably had a bit more of a clear club sort of thing.

No, that makes so much sense. Are you still producing all of your tracks yourself?

Yeah, so it's still pretty much the same setup as well where I make, I'd say probably 80% of all the production and then I get to collaborate with others to make the sounds a bit richer in some areas and more developed and everything. Cause I can be a bit rough and too ready with sounds I think.

Are you always making music? Or do you have to get into a specific mood? 

I think I'm always kind of trying to chip away at something, but at the moment I'm trying to experiment with different things too, because I've been doing that thing so much where you sit down to make something and then you're like, I don't know. So, I'm trying to put myself out of the zone a bit more and try to get a bit more creative with how I work. I'm trying to do this thing where instead of consistently doing something every week, I'll try and not do anything for a few weeks and then try to bang loads of stuff out all at once.

Is there anything that grounds your process? 

YP— I don't know. I guess situations in real life. If I haven't really been socializing that much, there's no real of point of inspiration usually. So, I end up coming up with trash, generic stuff a lot.

So you'd say that your music is inspired by your relationships with other people?

YP— Yeah, I think so. I don't know, I always, I guess take inspiration from other people's stories. And so when I meet up with a friend of mine or something and they're complaining about someone they're kind of seeing or whatever, I'm like, yeah man, totally. And then I start taking notes. [Laughs].

Yeah, for sure. What was the inspo behind “Night Light”, your latest single?

That one's really bizarre actually. But that was, I mean, yeah, that wasn't derived from anyone really because the story makes no sense. But it's an AI stockholm syndrome love story thing. It's very weird.

Okay... weird, but cool. Can you elaborate a bit. How did you get to AI? 

I wrote it last summer and for some reason I was writing music with really weird premises last summer and it was like I was doing loads of research into AI and Metaverse-esque things and da, da. And I think, I can't remember if it was a Taylor Swift love story or something like that, but I was like, "oh, well wouldn't it be weird if it was a robot?" And so it's kind of meant to be a story about how if a robot was made and then got the Stockholm Syndrome for the person who would eventually destroy it, so they would go into the world looking for this person and all that.

I actually read a book that's has a similar premise, except with a golem! Do you think that it's inevitable for AI and music to intertwine? 

Yeah, I think... I don't know, it's mad with AI and the relationship with music. I think particularly, I've seen so many of these videos where it'll be like someone singing someone else's song, but it's all just AI. Yet it's so convincing... But I think just generally the exploration of AI in terms of your own thoughts, is quite an interesting thing. I mean, I've done a whole project that's very much in that world. So I think going forward I'll probably try and focus on more real life things in a way. It's really interesting though and I think it's got a big place in music that needs exploring in some ways. 

Speaking of, let's talk about this new EP you have coming out really soon. 

Okay, so it's really bad. Not the EP, but I don't even know when my own EP is coming out, but I think in the next few months. It's called Babylon IX and that's all the products from last summer that I put together. So looking forward to that one. And then hopefully going into an album next year, which I'm working on now. 

How would you compare Babylon IX to Bluff?

I guess deeper in some ways where it's like you've got the robot metaverse thing going on in half of it, and then the other half is I guess an exploration of... I don't know how to describe it. I went to Catholic school growing up and there were loads of these ideas that stuck with me, even though I don't believe in religion or anything. Some of the music's kind of an exploration of that and this idea that you can be a sinner for doing normal things. It's kind of an effort to shake some of it off and then actually feel my feelings. But yeah, so it's AI and Catholicism.

I also went to Catholic school growing up, so I know what you mean with how all of these ideas how to exist in the world are indoctrinated and often quite limiting. Do you feel like your music is a cleanses away that restrictive mindset or more so brings such a topic to the surface so others can form their own opinions? 

I mean, in terms of how people listen to it, I quite like the idea that it's like everyone can perceive it differently because I think that's a really cool thing about any form of art really, where it's a painting by people and they don't see something different. But I think for me, from the creation part, I guess I use music as a diary sort of thing where it's kind of something you can put away and put on a shelf, but it's out of you. So yeah, I guess a sort of expelling system.

Yeah, that makes sense. When listening to your music, I feel like there's something trance-like about it, reminiscent of '90s electronic music and especially early '00s music. Is there anyone in particular that inspires your sound?

I don't know. I always kind of struggled to say because I have had consistent people throughout my life that I kind of looked up to. But every year I've got a few different bunch of people that I really enjoy their music and stuff. But I guess one person that comes to midn is Eartheater. There's so many people actually, I think they're all doing cool stuff at the moment. Right now, I'm on a weird sixties crew kick for some reason, which makes no sense with what I think.

How was it working with Logic1000 on "What You Like," especially with it going viral?

That was, I don't know... That one was one of those songs I think just wrote itself. That was in covid as well. And then we actually hadn't met because she's based in Berlin and I was based in London and so we just did it all over email, which is quite funny. So I just sent vocals to her and then she'd like, give me some notes back. And then we never really spoke or anything, but that was the first song I'd put out and it was kind of wild to see this reaction to it, I don't know, the part that I did was with her propped up on my phone on my bedside table, which I find really funny because I just look over there sometimes and I'm like it's so weird.

Yeah, that's so strange [Laughs]. Do you feel like you'll do more collaborations like that in the future?

Yeah, I'd be like... It's funny because the way everything kicked off was kind of with a collaboration, but I've kind of shied away from collaborations I think because I don't know, I'm quite protective of the way I like working, but in the next project after this EP I'm a lot more collaborative and just having an extra pair of ears and ideas alongside you I think is something that can be helpful. So now I'm trying to be more open.

And you still write all of your own songs, right?

Yeah.

Are you always writing things down? Or only in specific instances? 

I don't know, I think writing wise I kind of just write down loads of things. Just those random thoughts you get where you're like, well, it's a really good idea. So my notes are full of just really random little dash away things and then when I try and sit down and write something, I usually kind of comb through those and then try and pick out something that I feel like is relevant to whatever it is I'm making. So kind of stockpile over a period of time.

Is it different now to when you were making music during the pandemic? 

Yeah, I mean a big difference to me anyways, when I was writing in the pandemic, I hadn't, I wasn't in the music world at all or anything. It was just me and my close friends or whatever. And so I think I find it harder sometimes to write now because it's like I'm aware that there are actually people who are going to listen to this and don't know me and will, I don't know, judge it more or something. But yeah, so it is kind of writing when you know people are going to listen versus writing when you just, it's kind of just for you. I think that's a kind of curve I'm crossing now.

When you say writing for you, would you say that your music, even though it's inspired by many different things, is still introspective?

Yeah, I think so because I don't know... It is kind of that diary thing again. And even sonically, I don't know, and there's other producers listening to it, you're kind of more aware that they might be assessing your skill or whatever, whereas if it's just for you, you kind of sound like a song. Good. So I think that's something that kind of plays on a bit.

Comparing music to a diary is something I notice many artists do, but its also ironic because a diary is seen as something that's private, that nobody else has access to. How vulnerable is it to make music that lives in the world as diary entries?

 I think I'm kind of lucky sometimes in the way that I write, it's quite vague and I guess quite sarcastic as well, so I never feel like it's too vulnerable or anything. But on the upcoming EP, I tried to be a bit more forthcoming and a bit more vulnerable because Bluff was kind of like, 'I'm tough' da, da. But yeah, so I think playing around with how much you can give to people about yourself is something that can be quite interesting when you're writing just generally and how you kind of pull back certain sections or put forward something else.

What emotions do you think your newer songs evoke? 

I guess a bit more honesty and vulnerability, but also I guess sonically it's a bit more epic. Everything's a bit bigger and bolder. Space was something I thought about with this one and the live aspect, which I hadn't thought about for the last one. So "Safe Fighter", which came out a while ago now I pictured that in more of an arena scenario and how sound would move from around you and all of that.

Do you have any live shows lined up this year?

Yeah, I've got quite a few festivals and stuff and I'm going to a lot of places I haven't either been before or I haven't done a show in and stuff. I'm supporting Big Pig next week for the UK and Ireland tour which should be cool because I haven't done any Irish shows, but I've got loads of family in Ireland so they can come and see it. And then I'm doing some US and Australian dates later in the year and stuff, so super excited.

Looking back at your journey so far, are there any highlights? 

I don't know, I feel like the things I highlight are really stupid things that are definitely not the ones I should be looking at. Sky Ferreira took two of my pictures, which is still something that I care about. And then Watashi Noodle from the Gorillas followed me, which was, I mean these are really dumb parts of it though. It's not like having a magazine cover wasn't cool, but for some reason Sky Ferreira liking my pictures is more of a big deal to me. Yeah, I mean there's been so many parts of the last year where I was like, it's so weird when they're happening that you kind of forget and then you remember later on and you're like, whoa, that was really crazy. Doing a full blown music video and stuff was really weird, but it was really cool to see how it all came together.

Sky Ferreira! The way she had the internet in a chokehold in its tumblr era.  I guess the last thing I'm curious about is whether you'd incorporate more AI-based visuals into your performances or music videos in the future.

Yeah, actually, on the first EP, there was a video we did with this girl Alice, who's really, she does really amazing graphics and it was for affection and that was a completely graphic video where we kind of spliced together some live moments mixed with... Well, not AI but, like, graphics. So yeah, it was really nuts though how it comes together because it's like you don't see anything for ages and then it's like this full-blown video where you're like, whoa. But yeah, I would like to kind of incorporate more of that sort of thing in the future.