8485’s latest song moves with the tides; voices breach the waves of electronics, but begin to drown in an immensity of sound.
It might be too late to say 8485 is the next big thing in underground music. Her songs distill trending genres with a brutal emotional edge. On “itmakesmesosad” her voice floats like pollen, on “gen 2” she merges with overtly electronic production to personify electrical signals. There’s a feeling of minimalism in these tracks despite their power. Leads are left unfiltered, drums shy and simple, lyrics sharp and direct.
“whimper”, the latest in a long chain of collaborations with hyperpop deity blackwinterwells, seems to backpedal into mystery following a period of honesty. The beat is sinking at first and submerged by the end. Washes of noise flow through and around the mix. 8485 phases in and out of prominence, singing “if you don’t care then I don’t care” with paradoxical nonchalance, perhaps downplaying the raw terror of modern online existence. Like all artists, 8485 plays a character, and on “whimper” the mask has cracked – distortions and disturbances convey panic whilst simultaneously hiding it, and far from what the title suggests, this song is delivered with serious and characteristic force.
Lyrics meander between impactful and melodramatic, framing existential worries as entertainment; “are you even listening? are you even coming home?” stabs with a frail push, whereas “I hate the way it all just looks the same” is more grandiose but far less resonant. Interweaving with the production in the last moments of “whimper” 8485 is barely audible, barely separate from wells’ timbral ocean. She fights, however, till the last second, singing on, powerful, controlled, undefined. An elusive sense of something real in this power hangs in the track’s atmosphere. Something in this performance is real, something in this “whimper” is a scream. 8485 is on track to keep impressing with future releases. How this artist and her art continue to fuse and split remains one of the scene’s most interesting stories.
Listen to “whimper” here.
Follow 8485 on Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Music.
Follow blackwinterwells on Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple Music.
– Jamie (⅓ @108MICS)
108MICS 