A sharp left turn. Industrial hip-hop meets EDM. Vic Mensa’s aggressive flow rides a distorted bassline that sounds like a dying motherboard. The breakdown features a children’s choir sample—absurdist genius.
An album is never just audio. The Flume Skin album era was defined by its striking visual identity. Artist Jonathan Zawada created the artwork: a twisted, 3D-rendered Orchid that appears to be melting, inflating, or sprouting teeth.
This uncanny valley aesthetic—organic yet synthetic—perfectly mirrors the music. The music videos (directed by Clemens Habicht, among others) utilized deep-fakes, liquid geometry, and surrealist body horror. To experience Skin is to enter a world where nothing is stable. flume skin album
Skin became a textbook for producers. Key techniques that defined the album include:
Upon release, the Flume Skin album debuted at No. 1 on the Australian ARIA Charts and No. 8 on the US Billboard 200 (a massive feat for an instrumental-leaning electronic act). A sharp left turn
At the ARIA Music Awards of 2017, Skin swept the board, winning:
It also won the Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album in 2017, beating out heavyweights like Jean-Michel Jarre and Tycho. This validation from the mainstream industry proved that experimental pop had a place at the table. Skin became a textbook for producers
If you are revisiting the Flume Skin album for the first time in years, or discovering it fresh, here is how to do it right:
Upon release, the Skin album debuted at No. 1 on the Australian ARIA Charts and No. 8 on the US Billboard 200. It won the 2017 Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album, beating out heavyweights like Jean-Michel Jarre and Tycho.
But more important than awards was the critical consensus. Pitchfork gave it a 7.5, noting its "ambitious unpredictability." Rolling Stone called it "a bold step into the unknown." Even detractors admitted: no one else was making music that sounded like this.
One of the album’s hidden gems. Kucka (a frequent collaborator) delivers a fragile melody over glitching beats. The song feels like a panic attack slowing down. The vocoder bridge is haunting.