Album Review: Lynks - 'Abomination'
A rising star in pop, dance and alternative spaces, the masked maniac Lynks has finally come full circle with the release of their debut record Abomination. A 13-track release with new and loved hits, the leather-clad legend is ready to take over the airwaves and obliterate the competition with his own brand of bouncy electro bops.
Opening with the already released single ‘Use It or Lose It’, the track’s lyrics tell a story of wanting to live life to its fullest before it’s too late. Encompassing this with the everyday phrase of “use it or lose it” - a line that is repeated throughout the entirety of the song - it perfectly traps human existentialism in an easily digestible, easily danceable tune. Not a new concept within music, but probably one of the most fun examples in recent times within the industry.
Easing the listener in with previously released tracks such as the aforementioned, along with the likes of ‘CPR’ and ‘Tennis Song’, is a simple segue from what Lynks has worked with previously. Being an artist that has a handful of EPs and is known to only release single after standalone single, it shows that there is no detachment to what got them their recognition or what brought them their attention: spurts, explosions, flashes of fun and experimental sounds that gathered them the following they’ve grown over the years. This is not the same artist who sang with London’s own Frank Carter about getting tattoos; this is a fully fledged artist with his own merits earned. And Abomination is only confirming this.
For those who may or may not be familiar with Lynks as a person and an artist, they have one badly kept secret. Lynks is massively unapologetically gay, and has made this the centre of much of his music, especially in terms of his sex life and his struggles within the community. This is a normal occurrence within his music; for example, in tracks such as ‘Room 116’, with lyrics such as “You’re not the one, let’s have some fun”, he’s transparent and open about his hook-ups and one-night-stand history. A topic that is still taboo in every sexual orientation, it’s even more so when it comes to non-heterosexual individuals and with making most of his catalogue about these subjects, he’s normalising his community and its culture in the most teachable and carefree way.
This is followed up and confirmed with the interval track of ‘Leviticus 18’, which is the infamous Bible excerpt that claims “man lying with man” is an abomination. This flows into the album’s title track and this is the most activist-acting track on the record. An entire track talking about the world’s homophobic attitudes throughout history and into more recent years, discussing facts such as gay men still not being allowed to donate blood, is a thinker behind the highly produced beats and the vocal distortions. This is not a distraction from the very dark truths of the queer community, but a way to pass on the messages without being too overt or obvious. In a world where most bigotry and homophobia is expressed with a perspective that the queer community is always “shoving it down throats” or “pushing their agenda”, it’s in a way Lynks’ own way of meeting in the middle: educating the unknowing masses about the real struggles and fears of being queer in modern society, even after so much progression, while not being straightforward and talking about it in a speech or in anecdotes. It is a clever structure of lyrics wearing a smart veil of popular music melodies.
The album ends with the track ‘Flash in the Pan’, concluding on a six-minute symphony about the true fear of only being a flavour-of-the-month musician. Wondering what happens when the fifteen minutes of fame ends and there’s no more time left. Lynks’ anxieties about being a success and living a fulfilling life has been an ongoing theme since his earlier years at the start of the 2020s, and this whole adventure of an ending track sums it all up.
Releasing a standout debut record, with a collection of tracks that are both too personal to understand fully and so relatable it will resonate with the majority of his fanbase, the worries of only being a short-lived success are still alive and still valid. However, with how he confronts it all through his synthesised artform, he’s fighting back before the battle becomes a war. With how his star has risen over the last few years, from single tracks to short EPs to this full-length, there is nothing to worry about. It’s both a sense of stardust in the brain and a sense of isolation in the heart, but they both work together to get everything out in the most therapeutic and fabulous way imaginable.
Lynks - the man, the woman, the myth, the legend, the religion - is unstoppable, inimitable, unobtainable, and above all, abominable.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
