EKKSTACY (CA)
EKKSTACY (CA)
Canadian rising indie star EKKSTACY, known for fusing post-punk and synth wave, will play for the first time in Romania – June 29 at Control Club.
Twenty-year-old artist EKKSTACY had already dealt with a lifetime of depression and anxiety before a severe mental health episode at age 17 led him to drug-induced psychosis and a suicide attempt. As he bounced back, EKKSTACY immersed himself in music. “I really needed something like an outlet,” he says, “because I didn’t have anybody. So I started writing.”
Already a fan of the SoundCloud rap that had blown up in his early teens, he now binged on moody indie rock with the same intensity, in his downtime between shifts at an Amazon warehouse. Working alone and teaching himself as he went, EKKSTACY channeled his musical obsessions and PTSD into songs with brutally honest lyrics about self-harm and sadness, and slate-grey production that recalls early-80s post-punk. When he began posting tracks like his breakthrough single “i walk this earth all by myself” to streaming services, he found an eager audience awaiting him.
Three short years later, EKKSTACY has amassed a growing cult following, and his recently-released second LP, Misery, is sure to make it even bigger. On Misery, the hooks are even hookier, and the lyrics are even rawer, and the entire project is infused with an urgent new energy that brings the anxious aggression and breakneck tempos of early punk into the doomscroll era.
“EKKSTACY combines the bleak SoundCloud emo delivery of Lil Peep with the peppy new wave melancholia of the Drums and a dash of pop-punk revival.” – Exclaim!
“Moody alt. breakthrough artist indulging in negativity and emotional indie-rock beats” – Kerrang!
“EKKSTACY‘s ‘misery’ is the soundtrack to your nihilist fantasy” – Ones to Watch