For Octo Octa, music has been a journey of self-discovery that’s mirrored the development of her own identity. The electronic music producer and DJ publicly came out as trans in 2016 and refers to prior albums such as Between Two Selves as a “coded message” for her experiences. Since that pivotal moment, she’s found herself embraced by queer scenes all over, a shift that goes hand-in-hand with her move away from live sets and towards DJing, following a year of heavy touring. Her dance music baptism came in the form of drum’n’bass and breakcore, where percussive chaos channelled the same free-spirited energy she now also finds in house music. All three genres serve as major influences for her latest album, created in her New Hampshire cabin home.
Everything on Resonant Body is rooted in emotion, and Octo Octa wears her heart on her record sleeve; she co-runs her label with one romantic partner and the art work for the album comes by way of another. It’s loaded with retro-rave pumpers such as Spin Girl, Let’s Activate!, where acid flavours shift into a climbing piano house jam that tempts a third summer of love. Imminent Spirit Arrival and Deep Connections both flaunt the sort of crunching breaks and supple synths that soundtracked 1990s video games, while the raw drums of Ecstatic Beat have much in the way of drum’n’bass pioneers Metalheadz about them. But it’s in the nature-driven tranquility of sole ambient cut My Body Is Powerful and the affirming vocal samples on spiralling single Can You See Me? where Octo Octa manifests the record’s intent, championing and validating her community. In this year of great tensions, music has rarely looked so up.
