Of all hyperpop and alt-pop’s current graduating class, perhaps no one truly loves pop music more than Sonikku. The London producer’s somewhat nerdy passion for the genre has seen him synthesise the dance pop of his wildest dreams with the giddy excitement of a child in a candy store. Cutting his teeth on the club circuit with obscure remixes of his favourite pop shlock, Sonikku was raised on a healthy diet of 80’s pop and video game soundtracks, emerging both as a scholar and fluent in the lexicon of Madonna. His love for pop’s camp splendour meant that his debut album, Joyful Death, was full of sugary gems, wrapped up in Sonikku’s euphoric formulations of 90’s house and hi-NRG and featuring some of pop music’s current roster of future icons.
With its LIZ fronted singles WKND and Sweat (the latter of which was given an excellent remix by SOPHIE), Joyful Death was a n album that mostly put the pop before the dance. His latest single Geopolitics is a bit of a departure. While Joyful Death was mostly filled with 808’s and 80’s tinged synthpop, Geopolitics is a hi-NRG techno rave banger featuring a buzzing synth arpeggio and icy stabs. A pure dance track, Geopolitics removes the lyrics and shimmery guest vocals to place the focus solely on Sonikku. It’s easy to trace his video game influences here, with its sort of 8-bit futurism and propulsive energy. It’s an intriguing evolution that stands in contrast to previous single Lifestyle, and suggests that with his upcoming EP MOLG, Sonikku continues to evolve while staying true to the boy who discovered electronic music through a Sega and Shep Pettibone bootlegs.
Listen to Geopolitics below with a visualiser by Ross Aitken, and download the single here. MOLG is out on May 5th.
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