There is a hauntological quality to the digital compositions crafted by the Detroit-based artist known as Infant. Archival recordings, samples and narrative vocal motifs persist throughout his work, imparting traces of presence, memory and historicity to his hybridized electronic productions. It makes sense, then, that he cites poetry and storytelling as the models for his creative process. This is most evident on his release for the Italian label Rest Now!, a 2-part sound collage piece that draws upon source material from Internet archives and YouTube videos to create a work of interweaving, sonic fragments.
The newest release from Infant, entitled Turning My Tongue Out, arrives today on the Northeastern, US-based “electronic shitshow metadata label” media_rins. The album sees Infant inhabit a fleshed-out production style that features elements of musique concrète and glitch. All the arcane sampling and avant-garde ambience from Infant’s previous releases are present but his sound design takes on a more resonant, hi-fi quality here. Lead track “Dust” is probably the closest Infant has ever been to club with its airy, digital atmospherics and trap-adjacent beat. From there, Infant travels across horizons of noise, interspersed with ephemeral figments of time, place and feeling. As such, Infant can be seen (or heard) as a conduit for lost narratives, memories and dreams floating somewhere in the ether.
Turning My Tongue Out is out now on media_rins. Purchase it here.