Armed with a Microbrute and Volca Drum in hand, visual and performance artist ila’s first sound-based works manifest themselves in a spiritual collection of techno-adjacent beatscapes. Meaning to lose your temper, or to (literally) ride on air, naik angin’s captivating synth experiments intriguingly mirror these nervous energies, with its colliding rhythms and textures underpinned by an enticing tension. As she warps her synths and percolations with a fluid touch (aided also by artist Bani Haykal), these nine tracks charm in their microscopic moments, in a state of perpetual motion – from the neurotic alternations on bukan-bukan, from the wonked-out fluctuations of the title track, to ‘eh ah’’s meditative, droning pulse.

Occasionally, the synths take on somewhat comedic grooves, from korek-korek cium’s insistent squelching backbeats, to the off-kilter chipped synth of neng tendo. On other occasions, they form sparse, discordant textural studies, like lemas semangat’s balancing act between harsh industrial clatter and erroneous glitching. But within these variations, a common thread weaves through her skeletal experiments. As they evolve, a free-spirited energy accompanies the music, always somehow morphing into a joyous joget that feels alive amidst its discordance. On the 10-minute hiruk pikuk, it’s demonstrated at its best – as her rhythms extend over hypnotic lengths, she accelerates an insistent, kraut-ish like frenzy towards a percolative breakdown. As the music charges forward with a primal energy, ila manages to conjure in these tense beats a meditative wind – a response strangely appropriate for an emotionally intense time. Holding onto their ever-dynamic flow, naik angin’s music feels transportive: one that spellbinds and takes away from an anxious present.

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