March 2021

Onikiya

Phondupe

Onikiya

Phondupe

Back in 2018, I was in Phondupe purgatory. I’d been off the scene for a while, with years of unfinished sketches. I decided to knuckle down and rework the tracks into a series bound by a common theme: I loved the idea of deep sea gigantism – that certain creatures, uninterrupted in the dark depths of the ocean, grow to 100x their regular form… A nice allegory for the untamed mind.

In late 2019, I started my own label ‘ Air Con Records’  Abyssal -4400 dropped. And in we dived.

You’ve been hearing songs and watching videos from ONYKIA over the last 18 months (yes, it was meant to be shorter but 2020), and the album features two previously unreleased tunes. (Pro tip: check out TRANQUILA).

ONYKIA feels less like a new beginning, more like a good purge.

It’s a weird sentiment to consider your debut album the end of a chapter. I wrestled with the idea of even calling it an album. But this felt like a genuine shedding of skin and I wasn’t about to label this thing an EP or a “mixtape” (pls).

That said, I’m proud of that old skin. I stare at it now, removed. I see where it’s been, what it’s seen. Me, but no longer of me. A vessel that got me to this moment.”

Onikiya Phondupe March 2021
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