Introducing: Yingthi

Yingthi is a the Twin Cities’ newest mystery – a transplant artist from…somewhere. She claims her home was a failed galaxy where humanoids destroyed their birth planet and attempted to relocate. That certainly sounds cooler than say, Omaha. Whatever her provenance though, Yingthi seems to be here to stay – at least for the time being.  And we’re lucky to have her as her music is really quite good!  Yingthi has a unique, experimental modus that weaves textured soundscapes out of droning synths, ethereally pitch-distorted vocals, as well as a bevy of beats, noises, and far out sound.   It doesn’t really sound like anyone else out there though in some ways her sound reminds me both of (formerly local) artist Elite Gymanstics as well as electronic duo Half High.

According to the artist bio, Yingthi’s debut album Reverse Polarity is “not only about star travel, it is about gender…away from her birth planet, her body started to change. Her ‘sex’ is different than her ‘gender’.” The record is currently available to stream and whatever else it is, it’s certainly a pretty imaginative piece of music.  Hopefully Yingthi finds the TC community a good place to settle down and eventually becomes less of a mystery.  For now though, listen to Reverse Polarity if you want to get an idea of where Yingthi is coming from – planet or otherwise.

— Jon

Jon Behm