TOKiMONSTA’s fifth album and third full-length LP, Lune Rouge, drops on October 6. Most of the press surrounding its release understandably revolves around the Los Angeles producer’s (Jennifer Lee) revelation that she had to regain her ability to comprehend language and music after being diagnosed with Moyamoya disease (a potentially fatal condition where certain arteries in the brain become constricted) and undergoing brain surgery. Given this incident of personal adversity (and the fact that her boyfriend broke up with her while she was recovering), it is no surprise that she has claimed the upcoming LP to be “her most personal body of work to date.”
The tracks that Lee has released so far nevertheless do little to convey the gravity of her recent emotional struggles. Lee excels, as always, in creating her own dynamic palette of full-bodied hip-hop beats and lush, futuristic electronica. Her career has taken her from a bedroom beat-maker to a West Coast electronic DJ to a pop producer – allowing her sonic repertoire to expand in the process. With tranquil drums, dreamy synths and pianos, backgrounded strings, and melodic pop/disco hooks, she can easily craft textured and compelling ambiances that command both headphones and the dancefloor.
Lee’s output is less than stellar as far as her lyric collaborations are concerned, however. As she acknowledged in her feature article on , one can become spread too thinly over time: “I think the longer you exist as an artist, sometimes the more directions you can get pulled in.” When she steps into the shoes of a pop composer – as she does with a recent collaboration with Malaysian singer-songwriter Yuna (“Don’t Call Me”), erstwhile collaborator MDNR (“We Love”) and The Drums' Jonny Pierce ("Giving Up") – the results are relatively lacking in virtuosity.
The music world (and Lee’s own bottom line) would certainly welcome her transformation into a female super-producer (an ethnic minority one at that, even if Lee has not claimed identity politics are a primary aesthetic inspiration for now) that can rival Zedd, Diplo, Skrillex and Calvin Harris in scoring Top 40 hits, but it is not clear if Lee herself is fully invested in transitioning into that role. In her FADER interview, she fondly recalls a time when she competed with other beatmakers on the merits of pure instrumentals alone: “I think for us, we reached a point where we realized we didn't need to have rappers on our beats, and we could just appreciate beats on our own”.
“Bibimbap”, the only feature-less track that has been released from Lune Rouge thus far, points towards the pure bliss that can be had when rappers and vocalists are out of the picture. As the track title suggests, there is a hint of traditional Korean culture here – Lee seamlessly incorporates the gayageum (a traditional Korean zither-like string instrument) with a breathy vocal sample and a palpable bassline. The dish itself – a mixture of rice, colorful seasoned vegetables, soy sauce and fermented soybean paste - is an earthy and healthy South Korean staple. Both song and dish nourish the soul in a hearty manner, without the need for any words. You can imagine either as a heartwarming remedy for a breakup, or a life-changing operation.
