The dystopian avant pop of producer Rana Farahani, aka ƒauna, manifests locally in the radical potential of art and music. The Vienna-based artist’s sound and lyrics are influenced by personal and political events. Her music takes a position and places social clichés into avant-garde beats and rap, hip hop and bass music-inspired tracks.

Following 2012’s D(r)one debut, Farahani’s second album, Infernum, was released in May this year on Vienna’s Ventil Records. The record scatters her worldview into vast atmospheric chambers laden with hooks, and weighed down with equal helpings of hope and despair. These club and pop tropes explore themes that face down on an uncertain future, dissecting new digital identities and the importance of political activism in these increasingly turbulent times. Eschewing much of the emotional fragility of D(r)one, ƒauna’s music now lies firmly at a dark crossroads between conceptual pop, downtempo hip-hop, and the euphoria of the club.