Berlin/London based musician and producer Mona Yim and London via Melbourne producer and DJ Memphis LK team up on this summer’s new alt-pop earworm “Thinkin Of U” on Ninja Tune imprint Technicolour, home to artists at the forefront of the underground including salute, O’Flynn and Weval plus alumni Sofia Kourtesis, VTSS and Barry Can’t Swim.
Both artists have seen their star rise in seemingly separate but similar worlds within a few short years. It wasn’t long after partaking in The Roundhouse’s ‘Rising Sounds’ program (prev. participants include Little Simz, Letherette) where Mona Yim’s forward-thinking and genre-bending approach to producing gleaming electronic would find her remixing works from the likes of Glass Animals, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and DJ Seinfeld–with her reinterpretation of “Tell Me One More Time” proving to be the undisputed standout of ‘MIRRORS (REMIXED)’. Mona was invited to join Hot Chip at Warehouse Project and supported Ben Böhmer at O2 Academy Brixton and UFO in Velodrome last year. She garnered early support from DJ Mag, who tipped her as an emerging artist to watch last August, and has already played festivals like DGTL and Parklife in early 2023 with more to come.
Memphis LK’s penchant for creating catchy hooks, relatable lyrics and dance floor ready beats combined with an unwavering DIY ethic set the groundwork for her to make a name for herself in the world of production. Her debut EP ‘Too Much Fun’–which she produced and wrote herself–took Australia by storm and started gaining traction abroad; with The Guardian including the EP in their shortlist of Australia’s Best New Music while gaining additional editorial support from Pitchfork, NME, Pigeons & Planes, Notion, Clash and more. Memphis has also made festival appearances at Pitch Music & Arts Festival, The Great Escape and supported rising pop mainstays like Rina Sawayama, Carly Rae Jepsen, Hayden James and Tove Lo. Her production & songwriting clips, along with delightfully absurdist comedy sketches, sees a huge following on TikTok with 250k+ followers, 8.1 million likes and 1 billion views across all her posts.
It was only a matter of time before Mona and Memphis’ worlds would collide. Upon meeting each other for the first time at a studio session in Berlin, they quickly connected over their combined love of electronic producers like Bicep, Four Tet and Overmono with pop songwriting from the likes of Rosalía, Lana Del Rey, FKA Twigs and Kate Bush. Naturally, they would come to fuse the two genres together, making the foundations of their new single “Thinkin Of U” within a few hours.
Mona Yim and Memphis LK elaborate on the creation process: “We met for the first time and got along very well. Since we share a lot of influences it came together really naturally and quickly. We both also enjoyed working with another female producer and felt comfortable around each other to play around creatively without being judged. Think that defo shows in the nature of the song as well. We came to creating this song with no expectations and no pressure to make anything specific, so it just felt really intuitive and playful. It was just full experimentation without any over analysing or questioning decisions, which is the best way to create.”
Speaking more about “Thinkin Of U” they add “I think its magic is that it is so simple. It’s a song about catching feelings for someone but not being sure how to express it, so you’re kinda stuck in your head making up wild scenarios. The production plays into that feeling too - hyper fun, chaotic, head in the clouds, but also with a sense of melancholy.”
Mona Yim and Memphis LK’s collaborative single “Thinkin Of U” is out now on Technicolour.
