Jlin

Jlin records under the name of producer Jerrilynn Patton, who grew up in Gary, Indiana. Though her earliest work aligned with Chicago’s footwork community, the music soon moved well past those boundaries, carving out singular rhythmic territory. Her first album, Dark Energy from 2015, assembled jagged, unstable pieces that prioritized the release of frustration, rage, and melancholy over any dance-floor utility. The record’s sudden acclaim prompted Patton to leave her steel-mill position and commit to music as a full-time career. Recognized among the leading experimental electronic figures of the 2010s and 2020s, she has performed alongside or worked directly with Björk, Ben Frost, and William Basinski. She has also moved into contemporary dance, creating the score for Wayne McGregor’s Autobiography, which received its premiere in 2017. The EPs Embryo (2021) and Perspective (2023) both housed material originally written for Third Coast Percussion, whose project earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination. On her third studio album, Akoma, released in 2024, Patton extended the sonic and rhythmic approaches developed through her work with modern composers and dance companies.

Patton began making tracks in 2008. While those initial efforts drew on heavily processed soul samples typical of the style, her mother urged her to cultivate an individual approach. Later pieces incorporated dialogue from films such as Mommie Dearest (1981), after which she largely set sampling aside. Public attention arrived in 2011 when “Erotic Heat” and “Asylum” appeared on Planet Mu’s Bangs & Works, Vol. 2 compilation surveying the Chicago juke and footwork sound, alongside contributions from DJ Rashad & Gant-Man, DJ Clent, RP Boo, Traxman, and additional scene producers. A handful of further Jlin tracks surfaced on online footwork collections, yet her first standalone release waited until March 2015, when Planet Mu issued Dark Energy; the album included a collaboration with Holly Herndon. Critics responded immediately, with strong notices in Pitchfork, FACT, and Resident Advisor. The record later figured on numerous year-end lists and was chosen Album of the Year by both The Quietus and The Wire. Planet Mu also released the follow-up EP Free Fall that November.

Afterward Patton resigned from the steel mill to focus on composition and touring. In 2016 she remixed Factory Floor’s “Wave” and posted several new tracks that previewed her next album. The Dark Lotus EP surfaced in February 2017. Her second full-length, Black Origami, arrived that May and featured a collaboration with William Basinski. The same year she began a project with British choreographer Wayne McGregor, supplying music for the dance work Autobiography, whose structure echoed elements of the human genome. Planet Mu issued the soundtrack on physical formats in 2018. She also supplied remixes for Björk, St. Vincent, and Max Richter, and contributed to Herndon’s 2019 album PROTO.

Further commissions included pieces for Kronos Quartet and choreographer Kyle Abraham. Late in 2021 she released the EP Embryo, whose title track had been written for Third Coast Percussion and whose production incorporated echoes of early Detroit techno. The Third Coast Percussion collaboration received a 2023 Pulitzer Prize nomination in Music. The ensemble recorded the works for their album Perspectives, while Jlin issued her own versions on the EP Perspective (the CD edition also contained the four tracks from Embryo). Later that year she joined Never Normal Records founder Suzi Analogue for the track “NICE 2 MEET U.” In 2024 she released her third studio album, Akoma, which included appearances by Björk, Philip Glass, and Kronos Quartet.