27 September 2024 - 0 Comments

Grammy-nominated NZ-born, LA-based singer and producer BAYNK has today released his sophomore album, Senescence, via Virgin Music Group.

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In the lead-up to the LP’s release, BAYNK (real name Jock Nowell-Usticke) shared videos for Grin, Feel, and Fool For You’ with a slew of visualisers for additional singles Inches, Blood, and Mr. Jocko (all viewable HERE).

A spiritual successor to BAYNK’s Grammy-nominated debut album Adolescence (2022), Senescence extends Jock’s talents to new territories and heights while looking to the future. Across 10 songs, Senescence announces itself as a daring, dynamic fusion of pop, deep house, contemporary club, funk, and ambient. The future means many things to BAYNK — a newfound lyrical focus and depth, adapting to life changes ranging from personal loss to hearing loss, and living up to inspirations like Toro y Moi and Caribou. “It took a long time for my output to catch up with my taste,” Jock shares. “For a long time I felt like I was listening to as much music as possible and learning about how it was made and its history.”

Recorded in the States, Europe, Africa, and BAYNK’s native New Zealand, Senescence is his most authentic expression to date. Handling the vocals entirely and a majority of the production as well as instrumentation on his Crumar Seven 73-Key Electric Piano, he reestablishes the songwriting chops that in the past led him to collab with Tinashe, Sinead Harnett, Cosmo’s Midnight, and Cub Sport.

His name attracted new collaborators like Keone & Mari Madrid (Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber, Omar Apollo), who choreographed and directed ‘Grin.’ Their presence, along with longtime collaborator Spencer Graves (FKA Twigs, Kendrick Lamar, Harry Styles) highlights the emphasis on visual elements on the album, where each single arrived with a captivating visualizer if not a full-fledged video. One of the key evolutions for BAYNK is his improved songwriting.

“This album’s a lot more focused on lyricism and stories as opposed to just being dance tracks,” he says. “The songs still have the DNA of dance music, but the album is mostly concerned with love, friendship, and death.”

Based on its reception so far, Senescence is being viewed by fans as an artistic leap. From the album so far, Flaunt Magazine praised the single ‘Feel’ for “its bright beats and fast tempo itch the brain like a hit of ecstasy as BAYNK sings, ‘Feel just a little bit / Push it up / Try to take it in.’ And it has the immersive, blurry neon fantasy of a music video to accompany it.”

Upon the release of Feel, BAYNK graced the cover of Spotify’s ‘Metropolis’ playlist. Feel was preceded by Fool For You which premiered on KEXP and was included in KCRW’s “5 Songs to Hear This Week.” Grin, meanwhile, has picked up over one million streams since its release in July and was featured on Elton John’s Rocket Hour BBC show. In support of the platform that helped his rise to fame, BAYNK lent his voice to Soundcloud’s Sound Advice series, his advice racking up 20K listens.

In the wake of three growing headline tours of the US and sold-out debut shows in Australia, UK, Germany and France, in addition to performances at festivals from Coachella to Lollapalooza, BAYNK's kinetic live performances have put him on the map as the scene's most enigmatic artists to watch. To see the magic in action, fans can catch him for two special dates in LA and NYC later this month.

Photo Credit: Adrian Nieto

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