It’s been seven months since vocalist, choreographer, and composer illyr gave his followers a glimpse of his work with “prelude”, an introductory video for his [SCROLLING SUBCONSCIOUS] EP that throbbed with dystopian overtones and raw sexuality. Working with his creative counterpart, visual artist and filmmaker REMEMBER YOU WERE MADE TO BE USED, illyr has now released the second part of that miniseries, “i. chokehold”.

In “i. chokehold”, illyr’s voice soars against a backdrop of CCTV screens, brutalist architecture, bleak tube stations, and empty multistorey car parks, with a couple in contrasting Cottweiler tracksuits seemingly battling their love for one another. The sensuality of the choreography (featuring dancer Solomon Berrio-Allen) combines with illyr’s haunting croon: “Hold me in your chokehold, I love it when I can’t breathe… do what you want with me.”

Zoning in on his themes of prison, survelliance, and the sinister nature of social media, the boys in illyr and REMEMBER’s films and photography have shaved their heads to illustrate the loss of individuality. The music draws from a pool of references, from Thomas Mann’s Death In Venice and Sarah Kane to sampled recordings of sexual moans and an operatic aria.

illyr – who recently featured as part of the Dazed 100’s class of 2017 – says in a joint statement with REMEMBER that “‘i.chokehold’ places us in the position of the contemporary voyeur as we witness the intimate, sexually-loaded, and occasionally skittish synergy between its shaven headed protagonists.”

Watch the video above, and follower illyr and REMEMBER on Instagram.