More Experimental Delight on Ecco2k’s PXE

PXE (2021), pronounced “pixie,” is the newest EP from multi-hyphenate artist Zak Arogundade, also known as Ecco2k. Following the release of a few singles and the artist’s debut album in 2019, PXE now moves into a decidedly more conceptual space. Relatively short, clocking in at just under 11 minutes, the 5 track EP takes its cues from Ecco2k’s previous work on E (2019), but adds in new motifs, like distinctly indie voice layering and guitar loops.

Ecco2k is a member of the Swedish rap collective known as Drain Gang—also known as Gravity Boys Shield Gang and closely affiliated with Sad Boys—a group of producers, rappers, and artists who attracted international attention in 2014 with Yung Lean. As the years have gone on, the respective members of each closely-linked group, including Bladee, Yung Gud, Yung Sherm, and Thaiboy Digital, have cultivated their own sound. Though Bladee and Yung Lean have often received the bulk of the attention—especially now that Bladee is popular on TikTok and classified as hyperpop—Ecco2k has always remained one of the more elusive and unique creators of the bunch. 

Also working alongside Yves Tumor, Ecco2k has moved from the early cloud-rap styles that were featured heavily on tracks like “Kyoto,” and even the early experimentalism on Bladee’s Gluee (2014), to a noisy, high-pitched, ethereal dreamscape. With a sound somewhere in between Bladee’s more recent pop-driven songs like “Rainbow” and the avant-grade work of fellow Nordic label Posh Isolation, PXE marks Ecco2k distinctiveness within the milieu of fellow artists. On this EP, Ecco2k continues the self-articulation of E both conceptually and sonically and highlights a possible path for the evolution of this sound. 

The title track, “PXE,” begins with what has now become Ecco2k’s signature high-pitched, almost childish voice, distorted by beeping sounds that mimic a sci-fi spaceship soundscape as he repeats “come out of your shell/come into the light.” The music produced by Zak is the kind of warped, shiny, and complex textural soundscape that ambient and experimental producers like Yves Tumor and Puce Mary have worked with. However, the rapid switches between the sounds of a bubbling chime and a wave-like chorus are made distinct via the ethereal, pixie-like voice Ecco has cultivated—a motif that demarcates him as unique within Drain Gang and music as a whole. With a speech that announces the EP and its title, the track is both confessional, intimate, and reminiscent of the days of live performance.

Perhaps the most conventional and most pop-derived song on the EP, “In The Flesh” incorporates the whimsy found on similar Drain Gang projects, like Bladee and Mechatok’s recent Album Good Luck (2020) with Ecco2k’s unique cadence of voice and lyricism. The theme of sonic, symbolic, and textural self-discovery is highlighted here. As electric guitar loops weave through noisy beeps, pitched-up basslines, and Ecco’s crooning voice, the lyrics meditate on love and self-discovery with lines such as, “I want to meet someone,” “I want a human body/I wanna be someone,” in a way that’s both naively charming and melancholic.   

“Jalouse” is a personal favorite of mine on this project, combining the simple electric guitar instrumentation and unmodified voice of Zak, which could be found in the ripped versions of his childhood punk project. It becomes a sort of bridge between an earlier and less modified version of his musical style with the current, heavily manipulated and unique sounds he produces. As the song moves through a meditation of jealousy with the repeated refrain of “you want it,” the song’s structure increasingly breaks down, interrupted by static. Fans have argued that this track could be seen as a reckoning between the singers’ two theoretical personalities of Ecco and the more feminine Echo. Following the exploration of race in E, Ecco may be moving into an exploration of gender and gendered tropes.  

The typical song structure begins to break down on  “No***’s Song,” with the verse made up of a series of ambient noises, breaks throughout the song, and tempo distortions. Partially in Swedish and seeming to reference a dialogue with himself, “No***’s song is a confusing but lovely sonic mashup.

“Big Air” is a fitting final track to this explorative play with sound and self. Reminiscent of late 2000’s European ambient noise, the track is filled with airy chimes and distorted voices, hidden under layers of repeating moaning phrases. As much as it is confusing and troubling, the overall effect is one of hope, with distortion only emphasizing the ethereal and delicate quality of the underlying instrumentation. The repeating pattern of moaning phrases seems both vulnerable and sexual, while the whooshing, chimes, and crescendos evoke snow. The distortion here is not the typical hyperpop use of thick bass and glitches, but seems to be more similar to electronic experimental artists like Croation Armor, Varg2TM, and even incorporates elements of the Noise genre. The EP makes its final point not with a bang, but with a tapestry of almost child-like metallic textures.

Overall, the EP seems to signal development in terms of Ecco2k’s textural exploration within the soundscapes he creates. If nothing else, it shows that the themes of self-discovery and acceptance so clearly displayed within the lyrics of E, which reckoned with race, displacement, and love, among other things, are likely to continue—hopefully in ever more intricate and experimental tracks. 

Written by Xia Jimenez