Review: lynyn - Ixona (Sooper Records)

There's been a bit of an upsurge in tracks infused in DnB of late but lynyn's "difficult second album", 'Ixona' goes that little bit further with the new release out of Chicago's Sooper Records; time to get in on the loop!

Recent Tru-Thoughts releases by Oliver Night (see review HERE) and WheelUP's 'Inner Light' (see review HERE) and at the other end of the spectrum, we've had Raz & Alfa's cover of Aphex Twin's 'Windowlicker' (see review HERE) have got us all excited in the YATM office.  What's this got to do with lynyn's follow-up to his debut, 'Lexicon' (2022)?   Well, DJ Mag has called him “One of IDM's next visionaries” so how well has Chicago's producer Conor Mackey lived up to this?

Well, the short answer is, "Very well indeed".  By throwing in some sharply focused Four Tet influences (Ed, did I ever tell you that I once stood next to Kieran in a Soho basement?) and a bit of Floating Points funk; yes I saw Sam him at last years' We Out Festival on keyboards in the backing band of UK jazz legend Norma Winstone - sometimes, you really could'nt make this stuff up!

Anyway, back to the album that opens up with this musical diversity conundrum, 'Nobody Knows Me' which has the 'pained' refrain “Know Me” on repeat to a shuffle dubstep before flipping to dnb basement such that it's a bit OST like Amon Tobin.

'Roll 5231' and 'Light Morph' are more drum n bass core but at any moment he can go glitchy micro-beats to big Acid synth wobbles like on longest track, 'The Fold' and the first single, '4m Hiero' (see below video by lynyn's "visual collaborator, Owen Blodgett).

There even more with the darker 'Versiliture' and then there's other extremes like the quieter/gentle 'RESton', 'Iliamna' and the closing track, the CD/digital only, 'Pad C U' that features the trombone of Brendan Whalen that's more trip-hop cool jazz.

The darker elements of the album along with the track 'Night Shift' put me in mind of Leo Chadburn's industrial "poem", 'Sleep in the Shadow of the Alternator' (see review HERE) but I suppose, in all fairness, what are DJ Mag saying about the new album? "Mackey’s knowledge of music theory and modular sound design is ahead of the fray, often culminating in fast-moving, intensely futuristic symphonies that will send tired minds into a state of fine-tuned hyperdrive" - I think we could all see that coming as, in other words, he's a visionary!

BUY LINK: Ixona

Artist:  lynyn
Title: Ixona
Release date: 5th September, 2025
Label : Sooper Records
Catalog Number  TBC
Format: Limited Vinyl / CD / Digital / Bandcamp

P.S. Don't forget BiggaBush's 'This River' (the Gerry Hectic Towpath Extension) on Tru-Thoughts for more varied dnb influences.