R.M. Hendrix - YUKS

​R.M. Hendrix

YUKS
self-released; 2025

TOP ALBUM

By Jamie Funk

R.M. Hendrix’ latest offering entitled YUKS is one that mutates genres as fluidly as it deconstructs meaning. Recorded in Iceland with producer Valgeir Sigurðsson (known for his work with Ben Frost, Björk, and Isabelle Lewis), the record channels dream pop, trip-hop, ambient noise, and experimental electronica into a dense, politically charged suite. It’s an album that feels equally composed and volatile—lyrical one moment, violently abstract the next.

The record opens with “The Yellow Dwarf Sleeps but the Judge Never Does,” a brooding, dissonant overture that evokes the icy dread of Tim Hecker. From there, “Heat Surrounds the Hive” heads across a hazy atmosphere before snapping into a head-nodding rhythm—a tension between beauty and decay. The production is hypnotic, recalling the dark majesty of Massive Attack and Portishead without ever feeling derivative. YUKS’ vocals arrive like coded transmissions: cryptic, cool, and eerily human.

“Thing Fellow” pulses with a subterranean energy, built around mutating electronics that feel like they’re breathing from inside a hive. It’s claustrophobic, immersive, and deeply tactile. “Moderate Rain Warning” shifts that energy into something even more alien—horns cut through the fog like distress signals from a distant spacecraft, eventually giving way to “Murder of Crows,” one of the album’s most gripping moments. Here, YUKS leans fully into trip-hop, but filters it through an industrial lens, sharpening each beat until it feels like it might shatter.

“Sniper Cert” is perhaps the album’s most unhinged descent. Whispered vocals, typewriter clatter, and menacing textures coalesce into something that blurs the line between musique concrète and psychological horror. It’s genuinely unsettling, even within an album that rarely offers comfort.

Later, “The Cult That Eats the World” draws from the smeared guitar atmospherics of Fennesz, wrapping warped melodies around seismic synths. “What Do Boys Become?” is a standout—a bruised dance track with soaring synths and some of the album’s most memorable hooks. It’s an emotional pivot point that still maintains the underlying sense of tension.

“I Scratched My Blood” plays like a score to a film that doesn’t exist yet. It's cinematic, shapeless, and quietly threatening. The closer, “Will the Sun Rise?”, emerges from the wreckage with an unexpected sense of beauty, reminiscent of Fennesz’s Glide, but with a bruised optimism that feels hard-earned.

This is might not be an easy listen for some, but it’s a fascinating one for those who enjoy darker experimentation. YUKS is an album that navigates environmental collapse, disinformation, and emotional entropy through meticulously constructed sound. For listeners drawn to the tension between chaos and control, this is essential listening.

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