5 Songs I Love w/ Robert Hinrichs

Robert Hinrichs turns personal upheaval into a burst of synth-driven pop on ‘The Road’, a track that balances reflective songwriting with an increasingly euphoric sense of release. Drawing on funk, new wave and electronic production, it pairs bright synths and propulsive rhythms with the theatrical pop sensibilities of Scissor Sisters and Mika, while retaining a distinctive experimental edge.

Written in the aftermath of a difficult relationship and a fresh creative start, the track finds Hinrichs embracing movement over certainty. His meticulous approach to production brings plenty of intricate detail, but the songwriting remains immediate, building from bittersweet introspection towards something genuinely uplifting.

‘The Road’ captures an artist finding his footing again, transforming personal change into an expansive pop statement. It is a reminder that sometimes the clearest way forward is simply to keep moving.

We had the chance to sit down with Robert, to learn all about his 5 songs he loves right now for FLEX. Check it out below!

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1. Ginger Root - No Problems

A new favourite. This is an upbeat smorgasbord, a kind of future-nostalgic montage that somehow pulls together a crazy collection of electronic sounds, live instruments and almost symphonic flourishes, then ties it all together with a delightful earworm of a hook. I especially love the emotional ambiguity of the vocal as it's produced. There is a smiling sadness to it, as though the song is simultaneously enjoying the party and standing just outside it looking in.

2. Ninajirachi & Izzy Camina - Ninacamina

Another new favourite. To me, this represents an evolution of technology-driven music. It takes whatever it wants from different electronic eras and recombines them into something that feels post-hyperpop without being trapped by that label. I love music that uses technology not merely to polish familiar sounds, but to create experiences that couldn't previously have existed. “Ninacamina” gives me that thrill while still retaining the immediacy and emotional pull of pop music.

3. Donald Fagen - I.G.Y.

An all-time favourite. I still remember exactly where I was when I first heard it on the radio: I was mowing my dad's lawn. Within the opening bars I had to stop the mower and just listen. I was transfixed. It still demands that kind of attention from me, although by now I know it so well that sometimes I'll simply play it in my head for fun, no headphones required. The sophisticated chord progressions and movements, the virtuosity of the playing and singing, and the almost impossibly pristine production create an entire space you can step into. Then Fagen fills that space with this beautiful retro-futurist optimism from his own youth, a vision seductive enough that you can almost believe in it even as you sense the irony underneath.

4. Thundercat - Them Changes

I love how bold this song is without ever sounding as though it's trying to be bold. It's simply Thundercat doing what he does. There is a sophisticated understanding of funk, jazz and R&B underneath a contemporary song that sounds as though it could have emerged from the late 1970s and yet could only have been made now. The bass is so generous in its resonance that it practically talks, locking into this mechanical, hypnotic rhythm beneath vocals that feel brittle and almost ready to break. Meanwhile, the melodies, scales and unexpected chord changes keep throwing just enough at you that your ears stay perked up for the entire song.

5. Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky

This song rocked my world when I was a kid, and somehow it still works its magic. It has an almost unreasonable ability to produce joy; I find it very difficult to hear it without smiling. I love the nonstop orchestral invention, the wonderfully strange decision to use vocoders as part of the vocal texture, the clear Beatles influence and the succession of different movements, each of which becomes something you look forward to hearing again. It is tremendously ambitious music that never asks you to admire its ambition. It just makes you happy.

These songs span a lot of years and styles, but I think what connects them for me is a sense of possibility. I love hearing musicians use everything available to them, whether that's orchestration, virtuoso playing, synthesizers, studio technology, unusual harmony or some new collision of genres, to create a musical world that wasn't there before. But invention alone isn't enough. Ginger Root can surround a pop hook with a whole future-nostalgic universe; Ninajirachi can make technology itself feel exciting again; Donald Fagen can hide extraordinary sophistication inside something beautiful and inviting; Thundercat can make deep musical knowledge sound instinctive and effortlessly cool; and ELO can throw almost absurd amounts of invention at a song whose ultimate effect is simply joy. That's probably the common thread in music I love: surprise me, take me somewhere I haven't been before, but give my heart something to hold onto while we're going.

Don't forget to stream Robert Hinrichs' new single and album below: