A rising star in the electronic music sphere, pinku creates art clearly inspired by a love of EDM she developed over the lockdown, but infinitely more bashful and contemplative than the trance music she used to hate as a kid.
BABYLON IX is the 20-year-old producer’s second project, following her breakout 2022 EP Bluff, and it carries the same ethos as always: party music for people who’d rather spend their nights lying awake in their bedrooms. While its unchanging atmosphere sometimes makes the EP repetitious, overall, BABYLON IX is overall a masterful success for pinku, showcasing her skills as a budding producer and writer.
Let’s start with the obvious: the production is incredible. The drum programming is a highlight – while the EP’s defining breakbeats are often intricate, it never feels overpowering or off-kilter. The amount of subtle complexity in the rhythm section is true of the rest of the instrumentation too. Every song is an atmosphere in and of itself – the beats are consistently mesmerising, and the production is expansive.
pinku’s cryptic lyrics – which seems to reflect on the difficulties of love (“Heartbeat,” “Blush Cut”) and the digital age (“Sports”) among other topics – add another dimension to the EP’s melancholic vibe, though her words are few and repetitive. However, pinku’s singing largely plays second fiddle to the production; despite her skillful writing, her soprano voice feels like little more than another instrument in the wash of house bliss.
If anything, the ambience is a little too strong: most of the songs on this project aren’t very dynamic, choosing to do little more than simmer in their own vibe. For example, opener “Trinity” undergoes a slow, detailed build, taking its time to exist within a detailed, ethereal atmosphere that’s almost reminiscent of nostalgia-inducing trance acts like Virtual Self – it’s wonderful while it’s on, but it doesn’t quite reach the payoff it seems to promise. In general, though, the atmosphere of these songs makes even their monotony enjoyable, especially where the songs propel forward naturally, like “Sports” (which has one of the best basslines I’ve heard as of late).
Overall, pinku’s approach to and mixture of styles carves out a unique space for her in the electronic music scene, spelling out a promising career for her. And, in a post-lockdown world of sociability, introspection and strange mixes of emotions, there’s no doubt that other artists will begin to work in her niche too.
