Yen Strange

Australia's Yen Strange emerged with an introspective mix of dreamy and glossy alt-pop in the late 2010s. Partly inspired by prior episodes of depression and social alienation, her debut single, "Donnie Darko," saw release in 2021.

Growing up in Moruya, Australia, Annabelle Scobie showed an interest in music by the age of seven, began studying the piano, and exercised her voice by singing along with the radio. Later struggling to fit in with cliques at school, she would often spend her lunch breaks in the music room. Scobie started playing in local bands after moving to larger Wollongong when she was 16, though no one around her seemed to share her music ambitions. She was enrolled at university and doubting whether putting music on hold was the right decision, when she wrote the song "Donnie Darko." Her piano demo came to the attention of producer Fletcher Matthews, and after adding pop and trap elements, it eventually became her official debut single.

Following early releases like 2018's "Pixel" and an appearance on the 2020 Space Cassette compilation House of the Existential Dread with "Seagulls" as Yen Strange, "Donnie Darko" was released by Liberation Records in June 2021. By that time, she had set up base in Sydney. Strange collaborated with Matthews and Alice Ivy to produce tracks for her first EP. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi