DUHKQUNT- SPACE COMMUNION

Sleeper hits don’t get any sleepier than the last release from Leeds based “musician”, DuhkQunt. It’s the Rip Van Winkle of MUZAI Records releases over the past few three years.

More of a project to check something off their bucket list, it seemed more people than anticipated actually enjoyed DuhkQunt II – Duhk Harder as the video-game inspired music videos (particularly the works of Hideo Kojima) picked up a few plays.

“It was more of the case that I’d never released an EP before,” the self-confessed “jerkwaver” admit (jerkwave implying a tongue-and-cheek take on the cut-and-paste electronic DuhkQunt creates.)

“I started messing around with some samples on a few apps on my phone which friends liked. That evolved into creating a second EP with some more different approaches and a bit more of a refined, artistic presence. In particular, a lot of it was a love letter to Hideo Kojima of Snatcher and Metal Gear fame.”

“That my good friends enjoyed it and seeing it on their Spotify playlists was good enough. To be honest, releasing it was good enough. That some dope people in Leeds got into it and championed some stuff on Instagram was amazing and then getting some airplay and reviews of the singles – it was more than I expected.”

Expectations have been high at MUZAI Records in the run up to DuhkQunt’s third release, Space Communion, especially as the musician went into the creation of the record with a concept in mind.

“My wife and I joked one night about the name Space Communion and from that this idea evolved of creating a record that thematically was based around a protagonist on a voyage into space – from lift off to floating through the cosmos and finally discovering a new, habitable planet.”

“I know – it’s a completely pretentious take. But given the cyberpunk nature of the last EP, it felt right.”

Space Communion was first announced with the release of the video “Violence WAVE”, and now upon the record’s release today, a second video for the UK garage influenced (accidentally, DuhkQunt adds) track “M Havenaar Drip” has now been released.

“It’s something very different that Urethra Franklin has created” DuhkQunt states. “Violence WAVE was this loud, noisy, maximilist video and “M Havenaar Drip” is instead this contemplative, normal video that somehow manages to evoke this existential dread.”

“Why the dread? Because it’s pretty plain considering the last lot of videos that came out.”

Space Communion is out now on all leading digital platforms.

The Genesis of a Jerkwave

DuhkQunt has always operated at the fringes of expectation, but Space Communion marks a deliberate shift from the accidental to the intentional. Where DuhkQunt II – Duhk Harder was a patchwork of phone-app experiments and video-game homage, this third release was built around a narrative spine from the very first sample. The artist describes the process as “reverse-engineering a soundtrack to a film that doesn’t exist,” allowing the concept of a lone astronaut’s journey to dictate everything from tempo to texture.

The result is a record that feels less like a collection of tracks and more like a continuous transmission from deep space. Listeners familiar with the cut-and-paste chaos of earlier work will find familiar elements—glitched vocal chops, lo-fi drum machines, and a healthy dose of irony—but arranged with a newfound patience. The joke, if there is one, has become the structure itself.

Concept and Track-by-Track Themes

The album’s arc is unapologetically linear. Opening with the ignition sequence of “Violence WAVE,” the protagonist is thrust into the void with a wall of distorted synths and fractured breakbeats. From there, the journey moves through weightless ambient passages, paranoid mid-tempo crawls, and eventually the tentative hope of “M Havenaar Drip,” whose accidental UK garage swing feels like a transmission picked up from a distant, friendlier frequency.

• Lift-off and escape velocity: early tracks lean into maximalist noise, mirroring the violence of leaving Earth’s atmosphere.
• The long drift: middle sections strip back to near-ambient textures, evoking isolation and the monotony of space travel.
• Arrival and uncertainty: later pieces introduce warmer, almost organic sounds, but never fully resolve—reflecting the ambiguity of finding a “habitable” planet.

DuhkQunt is quick to undercut any grand artistic claims. “It’s still just me messing around with samples,” they insist. “But this time I had a map. A stupid, pretentious map.”

Visual Language and the Kojima Connection

The video for “Violence WAVE” was a deliberate assault on the senses—rapid cuts, glitch aesthetics, and a maximalist approach that mirrored the track’s density. In contrast, the newly released video for “M Havenaar Drip” is almost mundane: static shots, ordinary settings, and a creeping sense that something is wrong precisely because nothing is happening. This tonal whiplash is, according to DuhkQunt, entirely intentional.

“Urethra Franklin understood the assignment,” the artist notes. “After the noise of the first video, you expect escalation. Instead you get a guy in a room. And somehow that’s more terrifying.” The influence of Hideo Kojima remains present, though less overt than on DuhkQunt II. Where the previous EP wore its Snatcher and Metal Gear references on its sleeve, Space Communion borrows Kojima’s structural trick of using mundane moments to heighten existential dread.

Production and Process

All tracks on Space Communion were produced using the same phone apps that birthed the project, a limitation DuhkQunt embraces as a creative constraint. “I could use a laptop, but then I’d just make normal music,” they explain. “The apps force me to work around their stupid limitations, and that’s where the jerkwave sound comes from.”

The accidental UK garage influence on “M Havenaar Drip” came from a mislabeled sample pack and a happy accident with a swing setting. Rather than correct it, DuhkQunt leaned in, building the track around the unintended groove. This willingness to let accidents shape the final product is a throughline of the entire record—a space mission where the navigation computer keeps glitching, but the pilot refuses to turn back.

Reception and the Leeds Scene

Early reactions from the Leeds underground have been cautiously enthusiastic. The same network of friends and local champions who boosted DuhkQunt II have rallied around the new release, with particular praise for the conceptual ambition and the stark contrast between the two music videos. While DuhkQunt remains characteristically self-deprecating, there’s a quiet pride in having completed a project with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

“I still don’t think of myself as a musician,” they admit. “But I made a thing that goes from A to B to C, and that’s more than I thought I’d ever do.” For fans of the label’s more experimental output, Space Communion sits comfortably alongside other EPs and Album Releases that prioritise concept over polish. It’s a record that rewards patience and a willingness to drift.

What’s Next for DuhkQunt

When asked about future plans, DuhkQunt is evasive. “I have no idea. Maybe nothing. Maybe a jazz album. Maybe I’ll finally learn how to use a DAW.” The project has always existed in a state of pleasant uncertainty, and Space Communion may well be the final transmission. If so, it’s a fitting endpoint: a journey into the unknown that ends not with a bang, but with a quiet, contemplative drip.

For now, listeners can explore the full Albums catalogue or revisit the earlier DUHKQUNT – REUBEN S release to trace the evolution of this most accidental of artists.