Hailing from New Zealand, producer/songwriter/singer Janine creates music designed to take you through her narrative on her Dark Mind EP.
In the five tracks, Janine seems to switch between two sides of melancholy with her originality and her vocals. While “Hold Me” and “Bullets” sound like tracks I’ve heard before, “Let It Run,” “Little Bit,” and “Dark Mind” are surprising and ones I’ll be putting on repeat. Vocally, “Let It Run,” “Hold Me,” and “Little Bit” showcase her easy, floating-down-a-river sound that lulls me into a kind of trance. “Dark Mind” and “Bullets” harness the power of that river her light voice is floating on with an assertive, soul-filled strength.
The standout track for me was “Little Bit,” perhaps because I felt that I could dance to it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a dance-y track, but the surprising drops and slightly deeper sound made me want to move in a jazzy or modern way.
It’s the kind of EP to put on not right after a break-up, but more like a bit after when you find yourself inexplicably sad and your friends can’t join you for that bottle of wine. We’ve included a couple of videos below for you to enjoy right now, or if you’d like to hear the whole EP, you can do so thanks to Complex.com!
