Today – Lynks’ long awaited debut album Abomination is released via the renowned Heavenly Recordings. Ricocheting between visceral, abject shame and giddy, hedonistic delight, throughout the album Lynks takes us on a dizzying tour of modern queer culture via casual sex, references to Sean Cody, a one-sided love affair with a straight tennis coach and much much more.
Where their earlier work employed a relentless, collage style of effects and high-octane vocals to carve a unique path, Abomination allowed Lynks the space to experiment in a different way. Here they have the runtime to explore a wider range of ideas, new vocal styles, fresh genre elements and gentle narratives. ‘I think on the EPs, I was trying so hard to get anyone to pay attention,’ Lynks jokes. ‘Early on I was like “well, every song needs to be a hilarious concept.” Whereas this album, there’s quite a few of those, but there’s also songs that aren’t necessarily funny, or they’re exploring an idea rather than being really specific.’ The result is an accomplished debut that deals in light and shade. Opening with the flamenco-tinged ‘USE IT OR LOSE IT’ and closing with the dizzying rush of ‘FLASH IN THE PAN’, the record careens through the messy ins-and-outs of modern life, via unfulfilling one night stands on ‘(WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM) SEX WITH A STRANGER’ and a moment of sweetness with the lo-fi bedroom pop of ‘TENNIS SONG’.
Of course, queer life isn’t just pleasure and embarrassment. There are also the horrors, and the album’s second half takes a turn towards damnation. On the spoken-word ‘LEVITICUS 18’, a priest reads the infamous chapter and verse: ‘you shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.’
‘Abomination is one of those words that I think most straight people don’t have an association with. They think of it as just meaning a bad thing,’ Lynks says. ‘They probably don’t think of it as connected to religion. But every queer person knows that verse from the bible because it’s just like seared into your brain from a young age.’
ABOMINATION Tracklist
USE IT OR LOSE IT
NEW BOYFRIEND
CPR
(WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM) SEX WITH A STRANGER
TENNIS SONG
I FEEL LIKE SHIT
ROOM 116
LEVITICUS 18
ABOMINATION
LUCKY
SMALL TALK
LYNKS THINKS
FLASH IN THE PAN
UK+EU TOUR STARTS TOMORROW
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE
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Photo credit – El Dodds