What does Jinjé & A. Montane sound like?

Spiralling eclectic electronics and rhythmic house beats.

The review of ‘Neon Garden EP’ by Jinjé & A. Montane

Leeds-based electronic artist Jinjé teamed up with A. Montane to create ‘Neon Garden EP’ after the pair performed live improvisation sessions. After finding kindred creative spirits, the pair spent a year focusing their improv sessions into four focused tracks and nearly 25 minutes of rhythmic and creative play.

I was drawn to this EP because it reminded me of Baiyon’s music from his PixelJunk Eden and PixelJunk 4AM games. Like those two games, loose electronics and a progressively forming beat take hold to drive the listener into a flow state. Jinjé & A. Montane take a similar approach, whilst draping a vaporwave cloak of numbness across their music.

‘Ikeya Seki’ opens the EP with subaquatic frequencies that bubble, bend, and bloom around neon ember arpeggios. It sounds like a futuristic underwater steelworks turned into a dreamy submarine house-punk adventure. Whilst the rhythms are strong, everything around it is rubbery or smudged, yet the next track, ‘Vrem’, takes a polar opposite approach. ‘Vrem’ opens with numbing synths and twisted percussive noise before transforming into an aggressive, breakout/techno-like escape of pointed beats and scattergun synth bleeps. The track runs at such a pace that at times the effects that twist the frequencies and pitch of the instruments feel like the track is warping through space. It showcases how Jinjé & A. Montane can flip between the densely ethereal and machine-like intensity with ease.

‘Yū’ follows, borrowing softer, more acoustic and brushed percussive samples for the first half of the track. The song lets its synths glide like birds early on before switching into a pacey house beat and some excellent vocal sample chopping. Much like ‘Vrem’ before, the transitions of pace and style stand out, and I think this highlights how this release was born out of giving structure and guardrails to improvisation sessions. These tracks feel like seven-minute edits of larger sets, and I mean that as a positive. The closing track is ‘Velvet People’, and it’s the shortest piece at four-and-a-half minutes. It is also the most abstract. The song takes various tuned percussive sounds and plucked instruments and places them into a rhythmic washing machine. I think there are Thai or Javanese bells present, but over the course of the track, they shift into a digital shroud of themselves and then back to their organic selves again. It’s inventive, clever, and great with headphones on!

‘Neon Garden EP’ is a joyous release. The way Jinjé & A. Montane shift moods, tones, energy, and pace throughout a single track whilst making it feel natural is a talent. If you like the more mysterious or experimental side of house or techno music, give this release a listen. It grows on you with each listen.

Recommended track: Yū

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