Exclusive video premiere of ‘Escaper’ by Belgian artist Youniss, taken from the upcoming EP, ‘Do We Try Beyond The Edge?,’ out April 19, 2024.

Prior to the full release, Youniss presents a for the single ‘Escaper’, a track featuring gloomy synths and gradually intensifying, overdriven drums. Collaborating with visual artist Adel Setta, Youniss delves deep into their surreal world in this video. The narrative unfolds as an artist abandons his current life, preparing to escape into the “safe” confines of the grey and mundane. Over the past few years Youniss’ music has evolved into an amalgam of noise, electronics, and samples interacting with his post-punk and hip-hop influenced poetry. In all his music, Youniss aims to examine and communicate his Black life in Belgium, a country with a particularly brutal colonial history.

Visual artist Adel Setta & Youniss first video collaboration ‘arms bent back’ was a homage to surreal humor, rooted in real problems. On ‘Escaper’ they delved deeper into their surreal world. The story follows an artist abandoning his life as he prepares to escape into the “safe” confines of the grey and mundane. Is it easier to live life participating fully in a post-capitalist society? Will this life bring the joy and fulfilment one seeks? Or is the grass always greener on the other side?

‘Do We Try Beyond The Edge?’ is a markedly more confrontational record with a visible hip-hop influence, Youniss’ vocal cadences are more specifically syncopated, the drum grooves are a little more straight-foward, and the vocals are shouted where they were once belted and crooned. While his lo-fi hip-hop influences have shone through from his first release, they come through on ‘Do We Try Beyond The Edge?’ with a previously unexplored attitude. Given the previous post-punk styles of the songs on White Spaces and the increasing popularity of hip-hop and post-punk combining in the sounds of new artists, one could say Youniss is ahead of most with this approach.

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