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Alinka relaunches Twirl imprint, announces EP 'Day Dreamer'

It follows a two-year label hiatus, which the Berlin-based DJ and producer runs with former Hercules and Love Affair vocalist Shaun J. Wright

Alinka has relaunched her label, co-run with former Hercules and Love Affair vocalist Shaun J. Wright, Twirl.

To mark the imprint's return following a two-year hiatus, Alinka has announced her forthcoming EP 'Day Dreamer' will be housed on Twirl, which embodies the label's homage to classic Chicago house with a contemporary attitude.

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The EP is packed with crisp rollers, addictive synths, euphoric, punch drums, and a healthy serving of groove-laden rhythms and basslines, with lead single 'Day Dreamer' - the EP's namesake - available now.

Alinka was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and wrote the EP to try and process the trauma of the Ukraine War whilst simultaneously dealing with the loss of her grandmother who raised her. The outcome is three tracks which offer a timeless ode to Chicago - the city she relocated to many years ago - with the process a cathartic, comforting one, aiding the healing from grief she felt engulfed by.

“I wanted to write tracks for the dancefloor that are timeless and channel all the classics I fell in love with in my youth that still hit me the same way today," Alinka explains. "I wanted to create music that sounds timeless because that’s what Chicago house is to me; my favourite tracks still sound as fresh as they did when I first heard them.

"That music always brought me a lot of joy and I have so many happy memories surrounding it and Chicago, so when I sat down and started writing that’s what came out, because I think that’s what I needed to channel to feel better.”

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Now based in Berlin, following almost a decade as resident at Chicago's Smart Bar - where she met label co-founder Wright - Alinka is resident at both Panorama Bar and Robert Johnson.

'Day Dreamer' EP by Alinka is available on July 21 via Twirl, although in the meantime you can stream the lead single title track now here.

Niamh Ingram is Mixmag's Weekend Editor, follow her on Twitter