Chloe Hotline is a pretty exciting young MC and producer out of Cincinnati who has made the surprising maneuver representing herself through the avatar of Alexandra from the '00s animated adventure-comedy Totally Spies! It's an endearing decision and matches the sound and aesthetic of Chloe's music quite well. She is presenting fun and familiar objects of affection in an effortlessly cool way that only tangentially illudes to influences while feeling wholly original in her own right.
Her debut +NSTYNCT is a scrappy DIY hip-hop release at its core, but it feels like it is reaching for the stars- collecting each in tern and wearing them like rings on her finger. This is to say, that for an underground release, +NSTYNCT sounds incredibly slick and rich in fine detail. Her production combines various elements of downtempo and vampy post-punk and trap in a way that is reminiscent of the Weeknd with the warm summery drift of late '90s alternative rock and pop-punk daydreams a la rappers like Kevin Abstract.
Given how smooth and sensually inclined this record is, it feels like a bold move to start with "Izudown" which has a comparatively hard beat and some haunting abstract vocal samples on it- but it works! Like the cover, "Izudown" is letting you know that despite her emotional openness on the record, you are only ever going to get glimpses of her through her music. She is going to remain somewhat of an enigma and the closer you get to her image, the blurrier the outlines of it will appear. This is true of most people. No one is ever one thing all the time. However, it's rare for an artist to be able to capture the ambiguities of identity and interpersonal relations while still staying sexy and approachable.
The hard bop opener makes later tracks like the jazz-trap traipse "Tallulah," and the trancy, new wave entwined R'nB of "Sum1" (featuring a wonderfully talkative guitar solo courtesy of Lyden Rook) feel like they are intentionally treading softly on the footpath of your heart. Chloe is still going to say what she is going to say, but she's going to try and minimize the lasting damage if possible.
+NSTYNCT dropped back in February, but it has an undeniably summery vibe. Hopefully, its abundant warmth will help you ward off the cold as we descend into winter once again.