Llainwire is a new artist doing things differently from your average musician.
Despite their current residence in the UK, nothing about Llainwire – real name Niall Ashley – and their latest musical offerings suggests they are from this planet.
Sonically, Llainwire’s music sits somewhere between GAIKA and Palmistry’s deconstructed dancehall, Arca’s electronic elasticity and the same energy that Night Slugs’ future-facing tracks did just over a decade ago in clubs across the UK.
The effortless blend of genres, quick-witted, multi-lingual bars and transcendental visuals create a turbo-charged melting pot from the future. Whether it’s dropping lyrics in Korean to switching out into scattergun patois flows, Llainwire’s style is free-form, but finessed.
What makes the music even more impressive is the accompanying visuals, which Llainwire produces, edits and directs together into the finished product. Having developed as a painter creating distinctively chaotic pieces, Llainwire’s vision headed to different realms entirely; with paintings shifted into new perspectives accompanied by digital avatars in crazy, CGI universes.
Blending their previous prowess in digital art with confident and raw rap skills makes for a potent combination, with ‘Trust Fund’ already sounding like one of the tracks that will move the needle for UK music in 2023.
Llainwire’s latest track, “Trust Fund” – written “for all the student loan drillas” – is captured off an iPhone by Eugene Angelo, with the visuals taking the viewer from British back roads through to Blade Runner 2049 settings in just 1:49 minutes of futuristic, mind-melting brilliance.
Check out the “Trust Fund” visuals above and keep up with the latest from Llainwire here.
In other music news, listen to the new single from Potter Payper.