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Isla Den
AGENTRebecca Gekht
Pure emotion is a windmill — chasing what you want, feeling the need for now, and relishing in a neverending sense of un-fulfillment. This purest form of pleasure is a distinctly feminine one. We’re arrested by anticipation, longing becomes an addiction... we become infatuated by infatuation. The chase for immediacy is like a runner’s high, where the rush of emotional velocity takes precedence over the conclusion we think we’re reaching. It’s cyclical. Over and over again it goes, repeating eternally as we keep coming back for more.
Pure emotion is neverending. What’s a heartbeat if it stops?
As Isla Den, Ellie Manning and Mira Reale favored the end point—the release—for years. The Montreal duo’s early discography was built on the traditions of trance, EDM, and other staple electronic dance styles: music on an incline rather than a circle, building from intimate passages to dramatic climaxes. On Heaven Can Wait, the duo makes a sea change — the 28-minute album embraces the longing tenets of pure emotion through concise electronic pop, retaining the breathtaking stature of their former dance music while embracing the blissful absence of a true resolution. From sunrise to sundown, the album is a swift exercise in a single day’s intense desire, where—hook after hook, refrain after refrain—the duo takes us from the burgeoning emotions of a sunny festival to its lustful afterparty.
The ethos is also embedded in the album’s songwriting and composition. Tracks like “Basic” are pure and simple pop experiences wrapped in a complex sheen of passion. As Manning’s infatuated lyrics build through her delicately powerful voice, so too does its instruments and coinciding refrains; by the time it gracefully transitions into the just-as-infatuated “Hypnotized”, you’ve heard more subtly engrossing synth passages and lead melodies than you’ve realized — all of them simmering up from the hot sun. By the time the closing duo of “Perfume” and “Diamonds” hit, the tight production of the album’s first half has unwound, settling into the afterparty’s foggy floors with delicate synth plucks and warped percussion that feel like EDM meeting R&B, while distant memories of the earlier hours’ pop cuts flutter throughout the room. Manning’s vocals spiral out of their controlled lust to an enraptured desire; the day is ending, and the rush is reaching a euphoric fever pitch.
Inside this transition are collaborations new and old, with songwriter Darcy Baylis joining the fray alongside established collaborators Interalia and Fayt. It’s the type of album that simultaneously crystallizes a new artistry while being the catalyst for its further development, like a neverending heartbeat starting to kick for its very first time. It’s pure emotion, too strong to stop chasing.
Isla Den’s work has received support from Mixmag, AVYSS, Nylon, Gorilla vs Bear, Nina Protocol, and Line of Best Fit, underscoring their position at the forefront of emotional club music.
Beyond their own releases, Isla Den curate wWwindmill Powered, a Montreal-based event series now in its 11th edition, which spotlights forward-thinking electronic artists such as Malibu, Himera, ESP, Ninajirachi, and BABii.
Isla Den has performed across Canada, USA, Europe and UK alongside artists including: Ninajirachi, Mechatok, TDJ, Iglooghost, BABii, Himera, ESP and more.
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