Yikii: Heavenly Hell

Music that is difficult to listen to does not appeal to most, but I find it extremely rewarding. I recently read a CNN article by Jessica DuLong about the importance of art in one’s life and in the evolution and prosperity of humans across the millennia. In the article, she interviews authors Susan Magsamen and Bianca Bosker, and asks them about the value found in unpleasant artistic experiences. I have grabbed part of the interview to share.

CNN: Bianca, you discuss finding value in some art experiences that might be considered unpleasant. What are the benefits of work that confuses us or makes us uncomfortable? Bosker: The fact that art isn’t always pleasant is often part of its power. Scientists have puzzled over this question of why, over the last many thousands of years, humans have continued to keep engaging with art, even when, as they put it, it can “hurt our sense of beauty.” One compelling explanation is that we’re drawn to uncomfortable, confounding images and experiences because our brains love the prediction errors they offer, aka surprises. Some researchers think art helps us fight the reducing tendencies of our minds. Contrary to common assumptions, we do not see the world like a video camera, dispassionately recording what’s around us. Instead, our brains evolved to compress reality, acting like trash compactors, and for good reason. Oversimplifying our view of the world enabled us to spot the lion jumping out to eat us. But that ability also comes with risks. As some scientists put it, vision is a hallucination. What we’re seeing is a construction based on our own individual filters of expectation that preemptively sort, dismiss and prioritize all the raw data coming in, even before we get the full picture. Looking at art can yank off those filters, surprising us and knocking our brains off their well-worn pathways. The glitch that art introduces is a gift that opens us to experiencing more nuance and beauty in the world around us. Magsamen: Art that pushes us beyond our limits helps form new neural pathways that might not otherwise develop in our day-to-day. Exercising these through art can help build resilience to get us through the suffering and uncertainties of life. When you’re in despair, entering a church or other grand building can evoke awe, wonder and the sense of something bigger than you. Similarly, art, music and design can alter our moods, taking us outside of ourselves. Building that capacity is an evolutionary imperative. 

In light of that explanation, I have selected the song “Heavenly Hell” by avant-garde composer Yikii from her new album Chorion. Yikii is relatively unknown, even in the world of avant-garde composition, but she is one of my favorite discoveries of 2023. Her album Crow Cyan Lake was #3 on my Best of 2023 list. Here is what I had to say about her in that post.

The first show of this best of 2023 series presented my 10 favorite international releases of the year, and one of them is an album I have been listening to since discovering it over 6 months ago. “Discovering” is the best way to describe Chinese avant-garde composer Yikii (pronounced Yee-Kee), because no one is going to come across her music without some amount of searching beyond the superficial surface of popular music. The Crow-Cyan Lake is difficult listening. A dichotomy of sounds run rampant through her compositions. Darkness/light, horror/beauty, extremism/minimalism, dissonance/melody. This is an artist of immense talent who is working in obscurity in a country that controls its media more than any other nation besides North Korea. Since I first discovered her, I listened to much of her work. I watched many of her self-produced videos. I discovered an interview of the artist. Of all of the albums I will include on these best of 2023 lists, this is the one that I would make known to everyone if I had the ability to do so. I have also included the wonderful interview with Yikii and hope that someone will watch it and find a connection to the person and her music that is meaningful in ways much more important than simply enjoying an Olivia Rodrigo album. 

To learn more about Yikii, watch this exclusive interview.

To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.

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