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Sep 21, 2022 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Niles Gregory

LA-based indie pop songwriter and musician NYIKO has been releasing music for almost a decade now, crafting a stylistic fusion of synth pop, new wave, dance pop and hip hop on his recent records, 2019’s Crush and 2021’s Honesty. Earlier this summer, NYIKO shared his first single release of the year with his prescient pop gem, “LA On Fire” and today he’s back with an accompanying video for the track, premiering with Under the Radar.

Though obviously inspired by current events, the style of “LA On Fire” is a pure new wave throwback filtered through the lens of modern synth pop, landing on a sound akin to M83 covering New Order. Glittering synth passages, pounding percussion, and glamorous pop hooks all mix together with NYIKO’s decadent croon, evoking the best of both ‘80s synth pop and modern indie. Meanwhile, the lyrics tell of Los Angeles in disrepair, with celebrities gathering up their riches and NYIKO surveying the scene一“Is it enough to see/All the Hollywood dreams/In a blood-red sky?/LA on fire /Is it enough to say/It didn’t go our way?/No wonder why/LA on fire.”

The accompanying video similarly casts NYIKO as the observer, but now he plays the role of a mad scientist, the villain behind the disasters that play out in the video. Directed by Milo Mitchell一and starring NYIKO and Milo’s friends一the video fuses the track’s apocalyptic imagery and themes of fame and failure with a campy sensibility drawn from B-horror movies.

As NYIKO explains, “Milo and I are part of a movie club that meets up to watch low-budget and fringe horror films. With that shared connection, we wanted to make a video that drew inspiration from the more bizarre and campy horror films.”

He continues, saying “My favorite location was the broadcast room where Nyiko tracks down his victims. A friend of ours had access to this vintage AV studio from the 80s - it was a perfect backdrop for our protagonist’s lair.”

Check out the song and video below, out everywhere now via Trailing Twelve Records.