A viral vector has been unfurling over the past month surrounding a series of mysterious videos posted on YT by one iamamiwhoami. Seeming to be assuredly music related and uncertainly suggesting a female vocalist, guesses are running the gamut from Lady Gaga to Christina Aguilera, Trent Reznor to Marilyn Manson, and the channel comments ripe with hypothesis and the intense focus of a lock-pick teasing a tumbler.

I was riding hopeful shotgun with a poster on The Stranger’s site who believes it’s the return of Aphex Twin. He cites the unpredictability of each Aphex release, similarly named track titles (see Drukqs) and the haunting visuals that suggest a signature Chris Cunningham collab, but I don’t know… While the palette and distortion are familiar devices found in Cunningham’s previous work (strikingly similar to his PS1 spot, I would add), there’s just not enough audial/visual void in the darkness to sell me completely on either. Even the titles could go either way having since been alphanumerically deciphered as the simultaneously suggestive and cryptic:

Prelude 699130082.451322 EDUCATIONAL
I AM 699321018
ITS ME 723378
MANDRAGORA 1110
OFFICINARUM 56155
WELCOME-HOME 3383

Curious and curiouser — Who/Whatever iamamiwhoami turns out to be, both the visuals and music are as intriguing as the mystery surrounding them, and fully worth a few minutes of attention as the reveal unfolds.

Even if does turn out to be Xtina.

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