LYNKS • Heavenly Recordings • 'Abomination' • 12.04.204 •

•'ABOMINATION' • ALBUM BIO •

The time has come. After three EPs, sell-out UK tours, and a rapidly developing cult-leader status, the unapologetically uncategorisable Lynks – now signed to the renowned Heavenly Recordings – is ready to unveil their debut album Abomination. 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, and a one-sided love affair with a straight tennis coach.

With their inspirations pinballing from Peaches to M.I.A, Courtney Barnett to Janelle Monae, and more, Lynks’ sound is something akin to a club night being thrown in a blender. Each genre touchstone here is hyphenated, and every endlessly quotable couplet takes a surprising turn. Self-written, self-produced, self-effacing and self-aggrandising, the album brings together half a decade’s worth of artistic and personal progression in under 40 minutes.

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 DIDO 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.’

It’s little wonder, then, that so many queer people lean into the ‘spooky shit’, they point out. These spaces have always accepted them.‘There’s never been a book where the devil said it’s bad to be gay, or Freddy from Freddy and Jason said it’s bad to be gay. The alien from the Alien films never said that being gay was an abomination.’

The album’s title track reclaims the idea of being unsacred or unholy – ‘written before Sam Smith and Kim Petras released their take on the concept, thank you very much’ – and turns it into a source of deep power. ‘ABOMINATION’ is a spooky little banger, filled with glitchy synths and haunting organs. A defiant, euphoric response to oppression, it pokes fun at religious condemnation of homosexuality. Why, Lynks asks, is it okay for God to love every man, but unforgivable for the rest of us to lie with just one?

To counterbalance, ‘LUCKY’, with its children’s music-box melody, acknowledges that in the grand scheme of things, now is the best time in history to be a queer person in the UK. But delivered as it is with tongue firmly in-cheek, the song serves as a reminder that not executing your gays is a low bar for a country to clear. Set alongside small mercies, like somehow being the sperm that won the race to the egg and ‘feeling good’ even if only in decreasing percentages, ‘LUCKY’ makes light of scraping the bottom of the barrel of good fortune. On Abomination, every flash of light comes with a corresponding shadow.

The double-shot closer of ‘LYNKS THINKS’ and ‘FLASH IN THE PAN’ encapsulate the dichotomy of the Lynks project – the outrageous, outsized persona and supreme confidence lit from the back by extreme vulnerability. The oldest song on the album, ‘FLASH IN THE PAN’ was written long before Lynks had truly embarked on their career, let alone achieved their success – itself belying a strange sort of confidence. With a melodic synth intro that calls to mind LCD Soundsystem or Le Tigre, ‘FLASH IN THE PAN’ comes up in a heady, bubbling rush – as if Lynks themselves is trying to outrun the perceived expiration date on musical relevance.

‘In the creative world especially, you do have an allotted amount of time of relevancy,’ they say. ‘So it’s just about considering what going for this means. The song’s quite negative, but what’s hiding under the surface is that through writing I was like, no I love this. And I’m going to keep doing it.’

Conversely, ‘LYNKS THINKS’ charges along at a tooth-rattling pace, casting aside the shame and weight of religious perception of the previous two tracks and instead leaning into self-aggrandisement. Unleashing a stream-of-consciousness breakdown of Lynks’ personal power, ‘Lynks Thinks’ is a prime example of “what happens when you give a mic to a twink”.

It’s a flash of unmitigated queer pride, casting off the weight of shame, even if only for a moment. It’s this that might best encapsulate Lynks’ gift – a determination to carry on, to see the funny side, and bring the audience along with them. On Abomination, Lynks reaches out to their acolytes and the soon-to-be-converted, and invites us all to kneel before their altar.

Words: Liam Konemann.

"a thrilling, moving, life-affirming listen."

- NME MAGAZINE -

•'ABOMINATIONS' • REVIEWS •

Dork Magazine ★★★★★ Rolling Stone UK ★★★★ - The Times ★★★★ - Kerrang Magazine!★★★★ - NME Magazine ★★★★ - Loud & Quiet ★★★★ - DIY Magazine ★★★★ -

• UK •

• “Distilling everything that they have come to be over the past few years while welcoming what comes next, it’s an album that connects all the tissues of Lynks together in jaw-dropping fashion, pointing to a modern alt-pop powerhouse that even alt-pop hasn’t caught up with yet." - Dork Magazine ★★★★★ -
• “Abomination pushed Lynks into new terriotory musically as well as lyrically...this is an album that loses none of Lynks’ trademark filth and charm while adding crucial extra depth and nuance.” - Rolling Stone UK ★★★★ -
• “Smart, witty and knowingly self-obsessed, this is up there with Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret as a camp, subversive album with that rare thing in contemporary pop: a sense of humour.” - The Times ★★★★ -
• “ABOMINATION is frequently a colourful, outlandish listen, bold in scope and teeming with ingenious lines...oozing with outrageous star quality” - Kerrang Magazine!★★★★ -
• “‘Abomination’ feels like the first leap Lynks has taken into showing all their dimensions as an artist. It’s a refreshing change of pace to hear them not just deliver club classics, but also let their spiky persona begin to soften a little.” - NME Magazine ★★★★ -
• “A level of poise and polish that easily outshines similar attempts in the mainstream (and the underground) to bottle the theme of queer monstering into a sleek three-minute pop tune...this record does more than just claim unholiness with a title. It embodies it in every part of the song, to reveal these tropes as deeply silly but very real.” - Loud & Quiet ★★★★ -
• “One of the UK’s most fearless off-piste queer acts” - DIY Magazine ★★★★ -
• “The predominant flavour here is a sort of manic hedonism, but scratch the sequinned surface and you find some witty social commentary and a seam of vulnerability” - Uncut Magazine -
• “Lynks' debut album Abomination offers more of the distinctive blend of high-octane, electro/dance/ punk/pop they've become best known for...catchy hooks, confident lyricism and dance-floor worthy beats.” - Narc Magazine.-
• “Lynks - the man, the woman, the myth, the legend, the religion - is unstoppable, inimitable, unobtainable, and above all, abominable.” - When The Horn Blows -

“Lynks’ debut album is a loud, charismatic introduction to a future alt superstar…”

- Kerrang! Magazine ★★★★ -

• INTERNATIONAL •

• “A show in which hedonism, satire and rebellion flashes brightly”. - Musik Express ★★★★ (GE) -
• “Lynks wants attention and makes no secret of it. Without mincing words, Lynks flirts with the hedonistic, sex-positive attitude of many queers on their debut “ABOMINATION” and makes this also musically tangible – in the form of excessive electronic beats and melodies." - Mannschaft (GE) -
• “Sex, Drugs and Queercore: “ABOMINATION” by Lynks is a provocative balancing act between hedonism and activism”. - Einenhabichnoch (GE) -
• “Sex, drugs and electro beats with synth plays in all forms and facets”. - Musik Blog (GE) -
• “‘USE IT OR LOSE IT’ opens his debut album, which is about the rules of anonymous sex ((‘WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM) SEX WITH A STRANGER)’, a crush on a heterosexual tennis teacher (‘TENNIS SONG’) and the religious condemnation of homosexuality (‘ABOMINATION’)”. - Kulture News (GE) -
• “ABOMINATION reveals new aspects of the London artist”. - Segnalisonori (IT) -
• New Releases:  Benzine Mag (FR) Tinnitus (US) MusikExpress, Kult Magasin (GE), Binaural (SP) Purple Sneakers (AUS).

•'USE IT OR LOSE IT' •

A force of the unnatural. A pop-star fed through a Nutribullet. A human bag of speed. The fourth horseman of the queer apocalypse: Lynks, our new signing(!), returns with new single & video ‘USE IT OR LOSE IT’: an electro-pop anthem dissecting queer hedonism.

The euphoric yet bleak ‘Use It or Lose It’ is entirely self-produced and is a perfect return for Lynks. The crushed, flamenco-kissed bassline rides a thumping, muscular beat while Lynks’ trademark distorted drawl unpacks sex, aging, and gay representation in a series of impossibly quotable couplets. For the chorus, Lynks hands the mic to an anonymous robotic female who flatly urges the listener to “use it, or lose it.” It’s 100% unapologetic, text-book Lynks, who had this to say about the song’s meaning:

“I turned 25 last year which is supposedly the “scientifically most attractive year of your life”. I found this out and was like, “Damn, this is as good as I’m gonna get?” I suddenly had this prang of, like, if I’m not fucking 24/7 I’m somehow wasting my youth. Letting it slip away. And then you end up making really bad choices.

Plus being gay on top of that… The gay world is obsessed with youth. Which isn’t surprising – there just isn’t a blueprint of what growing old as a gay man looks like. Like, any film with a gay man over 40 seems to end with them either trapped in a sad, loveless marriage to a woman or dead.

So yeah; dry patches, sex parties and twink death. Everything you could want from a big summer banger if you ask me!”

While evoking the electro-clash roots of Peaches, the industrial chant of M.I.A., the sardonic drawl of Courtney Barnett, and the theatrics of Lady GaGa, Lynks’ music stands alone as something totally unique. And this uniqueness has earned him acclaim from the best; support tours with Metronomy and Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, a wealth of support from Radio 1, guest-host spots on Lauren Laverne’s BBC 6Music show, and personal praise from Elton John, to name just a few.

There is nothing quite like Lynks. An unpasteurized shot of electro-punk chaos compressed into the shape of a human man, wrapped up in a gimp mask, creating tiny queer utopias wherever he goes. And what utopias they are; sub-blowing, criminally danceable beats, anthemically witty lyrics about the darkest corners of modern life, and pure, unapologetic, camp excess colliding in a fog of sweat and confetti.

'NEW BOYFRIEND' • BIO • 

‘NEW BOYFRIEND’ struts into your headphones like a Scissor Sister on shrooms. An irresistible four on the floor beat, meets a swaggering nu-disco bassline, while crunching guitars, distorted drum fills and plucked analog synths wrestle for the spotlight. The follows from instant classic ‘USE IT OR LOSE IT’, which fueled Lynks’ ascent to new heights, landing them a Spotify billboard and their own New Music Fix show with BBC6Music.

“Look, ultimately I think I’m a fairly smart, reasonable, logical young person. I’ve done therapy. I give excellent dating advice. I know that a healthy breakup is a clean breakup. No footnotes, no P.S., no post-credits sequence shags. And yet the second I’m in the throes of a breakup, all that logic and intelligence evaporates. And I become what I clearly always was; a dog, cosplaying as a well adjusted human man. Unable to resist the stick when someone says “FETCH”. I’m not proud of it. But I also don’t think I’m alone. That’s what this song is about; lovely, kind, thoughtful, intelligent, well-adjusted couples turning into chaotic horny monsters the second they break up.”

“Lynks’ witty and sexually frank studies of British gay culture, over muscular pop reminiscent of MIA and Peaches, have marked them among UK pop’s most exciting outliers.”

• FEATURES AND INTERVIEWS •

• UK •

• “Brash, club-ready, industrial-tinged pop dominates this album, which often feels entirely made out of hard plastic, but its softer moments suggest something beneath the bravado." - The Guardian -
• "Guestlist For The Armageddon: An Interview With Lynks" - The Quietus -
• “It’s a rare skill to be able to shoehorn important and vital conversations into songs packed with absurd, filthy jokes, and Lynks hits the sweet spot perfectly. Their message — and their bangers — deserve to blow up in 2024.” - Future Artist, Rolling Stone -
• "Lynks tells us all about secret shows, committing to the bit, recovering from a stolen laptop, the riff behind 'CPR' and what they first though the word GROAT meant.... " - The Groat Podcast
• "I'm doing something that's clearly fucking with gender and sexuality at a time when gender is an ammunition pack for the tories.” - DIY Magazine -
• Lynks: “Being a queer person – being any person – is complicated. We have moments that are conflicting and challenging"..."When Lynks first started making music, their entertaining punky alt.pop was all about being “a total escape from life”. But things are getting much more real on debut album ABOMINATION." - Kerrang! Magazine -
• "Behind the Gimp Mask, Lynks Eyes Pop Stardom." - Bandcamp Daily Feature -

"A gender non-conforming, performance art-embracing pop maverick, Lynks has spent the early part of their career pushing every envelope available. With sexy, saucy and singular debut ‘Abomination’, they’re creating a space like no other."

- DIY MAGAZINE DIGITAL COVER STAR -

"Tackling topics like queer liberation, religion and shame around sex, the London-via-Bristol star is telling it like it is – while finding power in this honesty…"

- Kerrang! Magazine -

"Lynks is burning bright, spreading like wildfire, and is hotter than ever."

- Dork Magazine -

"Whatever the future holds, expect that the man behind Lynks will fill it with color and provocation—and a healthy irreverence for what has gone before."

- Bandcamp Interview -

• Brighton & Hove News (The Lynks Effect) | Bristol 247.
• Midnight Chats: Lynks - Loud & Quiet.

- Ugg for PRIDE - Hunger Magazine pride cover -

"The candid yet playful artist is a breath of fresh air in a music scene often saturated with singer-songwriters that are taking themselves too seriously, and are easily boxed into genres."

- Hunger Magazine -

• INTERNATIONAL •

• Tribu Move - Cover Star (France).
• "Sassy humor and sexual confidence, Lynks indulges, exploring the complexities of queer pride. Through poignant lyrics, cutting humor and moments of introspection, Lynks shines a light on the social pressures and prejudices queer people face." -  Radio Nova Podcast (France, Radio)
• “Although we are dealing with electro-pop here, ABOMINATION is also an activist work - and that's where “pop” turns into “punk”. Because this debut also takes you on a journey through modern queer culture, which aims to draw attention to the oppression and violence that the queer community experiences”. - Radio Q (Germany, Radio)

US RADIO

#30 at NACC Electronic.

LIVE DATES 2024

LIVE REVIEWS

"This show is nothing short of a triumph, and there is nothing you can’t love about Lynks. Heart, soul, unabashed pride in sex and sexuality, and relentlessly good songs: Lynks has the potential to rise to the very top of the pop scene." - Overblown, Manchester Academy 2, Spring 24 -

"As the night runs on, tune after tune after leg-kicking tune, the best way to describe the happenings would be ‘unhinged’. In the right ways, in the most gimmicky and giggly ways...There will never be a show like a Lynks show, and that is the best thing. It’s fully unique, fully authentic, and full-on musical madness." - When The Horn Blows, Manchester Academy 2, Spring 24 -

“After a full day of traipsing from venue to venue, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the vibe was slightly mellowed by exhaustion. With Lynks in the picture, however, there’s simply no option of that. It’s just fiery, infectious tracks and choreography that makes you breathless just watching it, spearheaded by one of the most innovative artists at work right now – it’s hard to imagine a better way to end Live at Leeds.”

- Dork Magazine - Live at Leeds 2023 -

"Lynks flies through their repertoire, dirty electro punk with elastic beats in the spirit of Peaches"

- 3Voor12 - #6 Favourite Live Act at Eurosonic 2024 -

• More Eurosonic Highlights:
• "A artist you should not miss" - KINK Magazine (NL)
• “Elton John already had him on his hot list - Lynks makes queer synth-pop with a punk attitude, covers Courtney Barnett and provides the biggest headliner appearance of the festival with the crazy choreos. See you at the next big gig”. - Minute Musik (GE)
• "The extravagant British artist Lynks - an hour with the most relevant European music of today." - LRT (Lithuania)

-

HIGHLIGHTS

RADIO

“I absolutely love it.”

- Sir Elton John, Apple Music -

"Keep an ear out for him, hotly-tipped, brilliant, and a pleasure to play him on the show again... love him!” “I am hoping for an album from them, so that I can already put it in my Top 10 for next year”

- Lauren Laverne, BBC 6Music -

“Definitely one of my favourite discoveries on the show this year so far … There isn’t anyone making music like this”

- Jack Saunders, BBC Radio 1 -

“Without doubt my most played artist on this show of 2020… undoubtedly one to lookout for for”

- BBC Radio 1’s Future Artists Show -

• Gemma Bradley, BBC Radio 1’s Introducing Show
• “Always entertaining” | X-Posure List (‘Pedestrian At Best’; ‘How to Be Successful’) | Big One (Song of the Weekend; ‘Pedestrian At Best’) | Hot One (‘Brand New Face’; ‘How to Be Successful’; ‘Str8 Acting’)
• BBC Introducing with Emily Pilbeam
• John Kennedy, Radio X - Radio X - Posure Playlist for 'This Is the Hit'

PRESS

• “Even if they don’t take themselves seriously, it’s clear that you ought to be” -NME
• “Lynks is going to be iconic … bold, queer, unashamedly hilarious and stupid amounts of fun” -Time Out
• “The kind of English eccentric we need now more than ever” - Guardian’s top 50 new acts
• “He’s onto something fresh and ridiculously exciting … He’s struck gold” - DIY Magazine ‘Neu’
• “Synth-heavy avant-pop, bold commentary and no small amount of silliness — a Lynks show is something quite fantastic.” - DIY Magazine Class of 2021
• “The doomsday realist we all need right now” - Notion Magazine, Internet Crush feature

DSP'S

• Spotify Editorial: Radar Featured Artist of the Week, Punk Unleashed (Cover), Rainbow (Cover), PRIDE UK (Cover), Bloom (Cover). New Music Friday UK, The Other List, New Music Wednesday, Alternative HIIT, Student’s Union, Out Now, Alternative Pride, The Dance List, Club Resistance.
• Apple Music Editorial: Video Premiere "I Don't Know What I Want"
• New Music Daily, Glitch, New in Alternative, Breaking Alternative, Resist!, Antidote, ALT CTRL, Elton John’s Playlist.

LIVE

• LIVE
• Sold out Heaven London and UK headline tour in March 2022, Latitude Main stage, Reading Festival, DIY, Standon Calling, Get Together, Elsewhere Pride Party, No Mans Land, Mutations, Iceland Airwaves, Sonic Wave, Into The Great Wide Open.
• Headline Shows
• Sold out headline shows in Bristol (The Fleece, Crofter's Rights, The Old England, The Love Inn), Brighton (The Green Door Store,Rossi Bar), Margate (Elsewhere), London (Heaven, Windmill, The Social)
• Supports: Christine and the Queens 'Meltdown Festival.' Metronomy, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Amyl & the Sniffers, Goat Girl, Sorry, Happyness, Oh My God It's the Church, Art School Girlfriend, Scalping and was booked for Confidence Man and Warmduscher until Covid kicked in.