In Daytona Yellow

Leon Vynehall doesn’t stay still. Since breaking through in 2014 with the bubbling house banger “It’s Just (House of Dupree),” the British producer has continually played with sound and identity. His 2018 full-length debut, *Nothing Is Still*, traced his grandparents’ emigration to America through neo-classical textures, and 2021’s *Rare, Forever*, a collection of free-form electronics, was born from what he called “battling his own ego,” a flex-filled attempt to define himself and his place in the world. On *In Daytona Yellow*, Vynehall lets go entirely. By ditching his ego and leaning into discomfort, he becomes his most vulnerable. For the first time, Vynehall places his own voice and lyrics at the center. Even when sharing space with collaborators Jeshi, TYSON, Beau Nox, POiSON ANNA, and Chartreuse, the perspective remains his. Sonically, he’s as agile as ever, weaving live instrumentation and string arrangements into his shapeshifting palette. Atop the dark club beat of “Mirror’s Edge,” an uneasy bilingual dialogue blurs the line between self-loathing and self-love. That duality resurfaces on “Whip,” atmospheric hip-hop exposing the gap between outward appearance and inner turmoil, while the wistful “A Jagged Promise” lingers in spiritual stasis. Elsewhere, love becomes a challenge (“Romantica”) and a mirror to the self (“You Strange Precious Thing”). During the writing process, Vynehall found his North Star in the lyrics of Leonard Cohen’s 1992 song “Anthem”: “Forget your perfect offering/There is a crack in everything/That\'s how the light gets in.” These words thread the record but resonate most strongly on the tranquil closer “New Skin / Old Body,” which welcomes risk and sees flaws not as mistakes, but as conduits for transformation. “What you do may bear no fruit/But don\'t see an idle pursuit,” he adds. “Without a vision, absolute/Then you are just a strange loop.”

The UK dance producer sets aside the elaborate conceits of previous LPs and turns his attention to his guests’ voices—and his own. In place of house bangers, he offers a grab-bag of moods.

There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. Back in 1992, on the track ‘Anthem’, Leonard Cohen told us to forget our perfect offerings