It won’t surprise any listeners to learn that Margate-based producer BABii has, in the past, co-created an album with Iglooghost (xyz): a familiar clanging chaos litters her new EP, iii, one hole-punched by hollow-sounding, quasi-Noh percussion. But where Iglooghost’s music is like a hyperactive DnB mix produced by CBBC, BABii grounds iii with big-hearted explorations of closeness and distance.
It’s oddly fortuitous, given the circumstances. In the cloistered, claustrophobic togetherness of self-isolation, we’re prompted to discuss what it means to share space with someone. It’s all too easy to transpose the three tracks presented on iii to reflect our current situation—a situation they have no awareness of. This, in a way, reveals the broadness of their appeal; the universality with which BABii is speaking.
Opening track ‘BEAST’ is the most overt example of these themes—though iii is far from furtive with their presentation throughout. The longing of long-distance relationships is contrasted with loveless close-quarters ones. Essentially, the idiom ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ is unravelled and unpicked across the course of four minutes. ‘BEAST’ features some lyrics which are gorgeous in their simplicity (standouts include: “your distance is distance/ but I still feel close to you”; and “I wanna love you/ whenever I want to”). It also does great work in laying beat-driven foundations for what follows.
‘SNAKE’ and ‘RGB’, the EP’s final two tracks, are incrementally more complex and ambiguous. ‘SNAKE’ details a damaged relationship with a toxic (literally “venom” producing) person who’s been given one too many chances. It comes at the point of excision, where closeness is unviable and distance must be established. A snake is an almost comically clichéd metaphor to use, but it gives the song directness and a kind of counter-bitchiness all of its own. And ‘SNAKE’ climaxes by breaking its own grimy tension in a beautiful percussive rush.
‘RGB’ uses the primary colours to symbolise jostling dynamics in a relationship. It’s gently hugged by celestial synths, which underline in form the song’s content: a hug should be an embrace—to hold but not hold in place. ‘RGB’ is a track is conflicted and ambivalent as the others on iii—and this is to the EP’s great credit. It’s the little complexities—in both its lyrics and production—that ensure iii is such a blast; never schmaltzy, constantly surprising. Grab it and keep it close.
iii is available for purchase and streaming pre-order here.
Words: Andrew O’Keefe