After two months of successful remixes for “I Love My Computer,” including collaborations with Frost Children, horsegiirL, and Effy, it’s safe to say that Ninajirachi’s brand of girl EDM is still going strong, and it’s only right that her hot streak continues with help from Underscores. Beyond mutual collaborators like Oklou and Umru, both artists are self-taught producers who frequented virtual music scenes throughout the 2010s. Nina took off through Triple J’s Unearthed High while Underscores contributed to SoundCloud collective Six Impala between her early releases. It’s a match made in heaven for two ever-online kindred spirits.
As one of the more subdued tracks on the album, “It’s You” feels like an equally fitting choice for Underscores to remix, as if bridging the sleek, Mirror’s Edge-esque feel of her recent singles with Ninajirachi’s chaotic, datamoshed aesthetic. At first glance, that seems like the case – her airy vocals glide over bright piano stabs, evoking those forays into hyper-streamlined dance-pop before interlacing with daine’s chorus in a ravey buildup.
Instead, Underscores cranks the energy all the way up on “It’s U,” retaining the original’s buzzing complextro synths while trading out its steadfast four-on-the-floor beat in favor of uptempo wall-of-sound trap. In one of the grimiest Underscores songs since 2018’s “Displacement of Reasoning,” punchy snares skitter around blown-out basses that still reveal the layered textures of Underscores’ production. The original’s main melody also translates surprisingly well to this shift in genre, soaring above the remix’s raucous noise where it used to ground the song’s emotional core. The second drop goes even further, with squealing synths and metallic growls that recall the Skrillex-sendup intro of “Gunk” or Virtual Riot’s rapid-fire brostep.
Even after this display of abrasive bombast, “It’s U” closes out on Underscores’ gentle vocals before glitching out into silence, reaffirming the sincerity of her music alongside that of “I Love My Computer.” For Ninajirachi and Underscores, their artistry is almost bound to be in flux, shaped by the expansive reach of the digital world – though there’s nothing wrong with revisiting your roots every once in a while.