12.10.18

At this stage in her career, referring to the music of Jerrilynn Patton – aka Jlin – as “footwork” feels a little reductive. That’s not a slight on any of the Teklife lot, who still regularly release some of the most head-spinning club music imaginable, but more of a reflection on Patton’s confident strides into the avant-garde end of the electronic music spectrum.

This follow-up to last year’s extraordinary Black Origami album is a soundtrack for a ballet choreographed by Wayne McGregor. Autobiography sees the producer conjuring harsh, metallic structures out of stutters and stammers of rhythm, an all-enveloping sonic world that sucks the listener deep into its jagged core.

This LP is the sound of Patton exploring the limits of dance music, or, more accurately, danceable music. She flitters between vast experiments in just how far percussive propulsion can be pushed, and the sort of pseudo-ambience that often accompanies contemporary dance performances, with tracks like Anamnesis Part 2 and Second Interlude. The Choosing in particular reflecting the taut undulations of ballet itself. With Autobiography, Jlin’s managed to make an artform as old as ballet sound like the future.

Josh Baines