White Space by Youniss

Belgian musician and visual artist Youniss presents his second album which is dubbed “White Space”, set to be released on VIERNULVIERRECORDS on Marc 8, 2023. The record deals with his own personal “panic attack” instilled by the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. With heralding vocals bathing in polyphonic fragility, shrieking guitar sounds and rattling patched-up drumwork with electronic-like textures, he delivers his own take on a perfectly imperfect 90’s punk rock meets IDM cassette tape - giving a voice to his inner existential outcries.

As an exploration of identity and self expression, Antwerp based Youniss moves his way through the awkward, intrusive feelings that accompany performing as a black man with an Arabic name through the gaze of the western world. The music and graphic concept of ‘White Space’ is fueled by the pain caused by being misperceived and the feeling of being lost in the search to fit in. Where his previous self-titled debut album captured the more romantic aspects of his identity by celebrating his heritage, his second full length now problematizes the a priori fixed positioning within the dominant white system and the ritual dances one must perform as an artist and human being of colour.

Tapping into this discomfort, ‘White Space’ channels a grim-natured realm of the anxious and surreal where one immediately engages with Youniss’ spiraling inner outcries and shrieking sounds. Spanning over only 20 minutes the record blazes like an infinite whirlwind, raging in the spirit of a 90’s punk-rock cassette tape with rapidly cut tracks brief in length. As with a tape, these tracks are bound to be played over and over in search for the melodramatic eye of a cyclic storm.

Although rich in imperfections, one will discover a coherent sound design and overlapping electronic-like textures crunching like a carefully constructed IDM record. For this Youniss forced himself to reinvent his production process: self-taught guitar riffs, exploring the outer fringes of his voice, sampling organic drumwork and stitching this together into a wayward patchwork of sounds that get under the skin.

As an exploration of identity and self expression, Youniss moves his way through the awkward, intrusive feelings that accompany performing as a black man with an Arabic name through the gaze of the western world.

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