Yuksek

French electronic producer and singer-songwriter Yuksek channels decades of pop into an ebullient, danceable sound soaked in melody. Born Pierre-Alexandre Busson in Reims in 1977, he studied piano in his youth; in the late ’90s, he dabbled in psytrance before discovering the brash dance-punk that emerged in the early 2000s. Yuksek’s early EPs and 2009 debut LP, Away From The Sea, were in line with the abrasive anthems of countrymen like Justice, but his work soon evolved into a much richer, more playful sound steeped in shimmery indie dance, slinky disco and chunky house music. As he developed, his intricate vocal harmonies and immaculate producer’s touch helped distinguish his work from his peers. He stretched his talents even further on the soundtrack to 2015’s Marguerite & Julien, trading electronic beats for ruminative chamber arrangements. And his DESTIINO project, launched in 2021, has given him an outlet for experimental electronic sounds informed by Krautrock, ambient and Balearic.