Multi-continental avant synth swarms
Who they?
South African-born, Brisbane-raised, London-based Janine A’Bear is a whirlwind of psychedelic polyrhythms, distorted basslines and warped vocals. As a child, she became frustrated with how black and white learning the piano was, much preferring playing by ear and doing things freely without a right or wrong. A rave obsession in her teens led her to electronic music, which in turn saw her taking to the decks herself. The wide world beckoned and a move London followed. Planning on staying for a bit, she’s still there some 13 years later.
Why A’Bear?
Well, who doesn’t like a bit of what she describes as cosmic-inspired, piqued-out pop layered through with messed up frenetic beats? A’Bear does quite a turn when it comes to live analogue synth sets, which evolved from trying to blend as many genres together as humanly possible while DJing. Understandably this led to her wanting to make music rather than play other people’s. ”I thought I’d try to make techno,” she tells us, ”so I got myself a laptop and Ableton, but I felt imprisoned and nothing I made was any good, so I bought a Korg MS-20 and a microphone and never looked back”.
Tell us more…
From the ambient twinkles and undulating bass growls of ’Light Up My Gloom’ to the hypnotic interference-laden acid pulses and ghostly Cocteau Twin-isms of the excellent ‘Stuck In A Rut’, her freshly-stocked SoundCloud page shows off some proper mad skills. While she has already released tracks on labels such as US-based Elestial Sound and Russian imprint Система, there’s plans afoot for a split outing on Berlin label No Suit and her own EP on Austria’s Fabrique Records next year. She also promises to finally put some music on Bandcamp in the very near future. Keep your eyes peeled for all that folks – A’Bear is not going to disappoint.
For more, visit soundcloud.com/abearsounds
