Toronto’s variegated musical landscape sits in the long shadow of its rapper king, Drake. But the city also offers up plenty of left-field heavyweights-in-training – such as DJ, promoter, producer and now artist Kirsten “Bambii” Azan. An underground club-runner with production credits on the last Kelela album, Bambii’s eclectic, LGBTQ-friendly, Caribbean-meets-global night – Jerk – has segued into a debut mini-album that takes in dancehall, drum’n’bass and more spacious electronic interludes.
At its most straightforwardly banging, Bambii’s Infinity Club sounds like Wicked Gyal, a track where London MC Lady Lykez lives up to the mischief of the title, and Bambii supplies icy stabs and rubber rhythms. More UK talent – Aluna, once of AlunaGeorge – graces Hooked, a sultry R&B track. Toronto rapper Sydanie fronts the more subdued Sydanie’s Interlude, which barely registers as a dance track until some drum’n’bass fades in, as though overspilling from another room in the club. There’s a delicious few seconds at the end of Body when everything drops but cavernous bass and a stutter of a beat; it’s the perfect transition to the title track – a flirty electronic two-step confection that shows off this producer’s skills.
