The title of Evita Manji’s forthcoming album, Spandrel?, refers to an evolutionary feature that lacks any clear or obvious purpose: Why, for instance, does a human need to have a chin? In the wake of trying times for the Athens-based musician—including the sudden death of their partner, SOPHIE, and a spate of wildfires that choked their city in ash—they invoke the concept to ask what parts of oneself are essential and what can be left behind in times of emergency. In line with this hardship, they’ve shifted from the bubbly, day-glo music of their debut EP, Neptune, to a more somber and relentless sound. On their latest single, “Body/Prison,” industrial bass ricochets around the front of the mix, gathering energy only to sputter out like a dying balloon; their voice is pitched-up and looped into wisps until it is overtaken by an ominous trance progression. Manji pleads their desperation—“A hologram of lies is trying to own me/And I can’t escape”—as they navigate a thicket of rave stabs, sulfuric bass, and demonic percussion. The violence of the music escalates until there’s nothing but their own voice, outlasting it all.
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