fakemink: The Boy who cried Terrified .

"The beauty of being a bedroom artist starts with privacy. When I listen to fakemink's early SoundCloud cuts and his 2023 debut, London's Saviour, I think of the blackout curtains that were on his windows, the sense of security that must've come from performing to an audience of none. Thanks to his singular ear for melody, the drug-tinged reverie that mink has crafted constitutes a world of its own in a landscape where "world-building" has been reduced to a buzzword."

"You can tell his approach is meant to be open and diaristic because of the way he gestures towards emotion. "Tryna get high, man, I really feel too low," he spits on his new track "Young Millionaire." "Turn the other cheek 'cause I know something that you don't." But he remains elusive. The trite, unadorned depiction of anguish and the woozy psychedelia it's packaged in are as deep as the music gets."

Fakemink began as a bedroom artist who cultivated privacy and security while honing a singular melodic ear. Early SoundCloud cuts and the 2023 debut London's Saviour produce a drug-tinged reverie that forms a distinct, self-contained sonic world. Tracks like "Just Kitten," "Truffle," and "Shampoodle" evoke lucid, creeping dream-states that feel intimate and intoxicating, offset by playful song titles. The Essex-born rapper-producer balances diaristic emotional gestures with an elusive persona, presenting plain depictions of anguish within woozy psychedelia. A short prelude, The Boy who cried Terrified, expands the palette, but mink offers little commentary on how fame affects him.

Read at Pitchfork