EKO ATARI’s playful take on Pluggnb transports you to a World of Warcraft-inspired fantasy land.

Chatting to Luke Joseph on The Bridge, the Sydney/Eora artist talks her fantasy RPG influences, the origins of the Pluggnb genre and her new single ‘realm change (under ur helm)’.

You can see the influences of World of Warcraft and other fantasy RPGs all over EKO’s music, from her playful lyrics and lofi artwork, a hypercolour snapshot from the game itself. But she only took her music in this creative direction this year, despite being a fan of the game for over a decade.

“Before that, I definitely felt very lost with what sets me apart and what makes my music    feel genuine to me. I think just incorporating that fantasy aspect of those RPGs just gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted with my music.”

Premiering on The Bridge, ‘realm change’ marks EKO’s “cutest” song ever, a love song about changing servers in a game for your crush.

“For context, in World of Warcraft there are different realms, which are effectively the servers, and you have to pay real world money to move your character between realms, so it’s this grandiose act of love.I’m basically saying ‘baby, I’d pay to change that realm for you.”

Working in Pluggnb, a genre pioneered by producers like Zaytoven that melds heavy trap beats with wavy synths and 90s/00s R&B vocals, EKO ATARI has carved out her niche alongside a small YouTube-based community, including collaborator Bloom7k. She hopes to one day expand this list of collaborators to artists like US based DJ Smokey, BBY GOYARD and Shed Theory.

“All the DJ Smokey tags are just so epic, so silly, and that’s the shit I need with music making. I can’t be taking that stuff too seriously.”

Listen back to the interview in full with Luke Joseph. You can catch EKO ATARI live November 4, details here, and keep an eye out for her highly anticipated upcoming project Glory of the Plugg Raider (25 Player). In the meantime, stream ‘realm change’ and EKO’s other work below.