In an age where genre is dissolving into fluidity, few artists embody that dissolution as boldly as maq 22. His new EP, MUNINN, is not just a collection of songs—it’s a statement, a charged atmosphere that blurs the lines between Electronic Rap, Hyperpop, and mythology. It’s a project that feels both otherworldly and grounded, cerebral and bodily, as if built for both underground clubs and late-night philosophical spirals.
The six-track offering owes much of its power to the synergy between maq 22 and Russian producer Tiresss, who produced five of the tracks. Their chemistry is palpable, with Tiresss sculpting a dystopian, futuristic soundscape that maq 22 tears into with a voice that is equal parts commanding and vulnerable. On opener “Burn The Sigil”, ritualistic fire and metallic percussion set the tone, like the sonic equivalent of drawing a circle in the dirt before stepping into it. The track functions as invocation and declaration, a moment of charging the air with intent.
From there, MUNINN dives into darker, more restless territory. The project’s mythology is central to its core: named after Odin’s raven of memory and mind, the EP orbits around themes of remembrance, subconscious struggle, and reclamation. This is not an empty aesthetic—maq 22 is deliberate in recontextualizing symbols often misappropriated by the far-right, reimagining them through his own lens of personal storytelling and cultural resistance. It’s a reclamation through art, one that feels both intimate and defiant.
The centrepiece comes with “Europa”, the EP’s lead single, produced by Hellnah and Pastelfuneral. The icy textures shimmer with cosmic resonance, echoing the desolate landscape of Jupiter’s moon, a metaphor maq 22 seizes to explore hidden life, self-discovery, and the strange beauty of what lies beneath the surface. Lyrically, it’s as much about inner exploration as it is about space itself. This metaphorical layering is one of maq 22’s strengths: the personal rendered mythic, the mythic reimagined as personal.
Elsewhere, the EP turns inward. Desire, fear, love, and memory collide in urgent bursts of vocal distortion and lyrical intensity. Tiresss’ production thrives in chaos, stitching together jagged hyperpop edges with rap cadences, yet never overwhelming the human voice at its center. maq 22’s performance feels instinctual, often leaning into freestyle energy, as though he is channeling thoughts from the subconscious in real time.
The beauty of MUNINN lies not in polish but in urgency. It’s messy in the way memory is messy, jagged in the way myth is jagged, stitched together with threads of history, emotion, and imagination. In its brevity, the EP achieves something rare: it feels monumental without overstaying its welcome.
maq 22 is not simply making music—he is making worlds, mapping out a constellation of sound where ravens circle over neon-lit ruins. MUNINN is a daring step forward, a full-circle moment that not only revisits the roots of his electronic rap experimentation but redefines them entirely. It’s an EP that insists on being lived with, returned to, unpacked like a dream. In an increasingly homogenous musical landscape, maq 22 offers something truly singular: sound as ritual, memory as melody, myth as mirror.
