Lusine

American electronic musician Jeff McIlwain, working as Lusine, moves fluidly between abrasive yet melodic IDM and upbeat experimental electro-pop. His initial output, issued under the names L'usine or Lusine Icl on Isophlux and Hymen, centered on intricate pinprick beats paired with bright expressive melodies while also venturing into downtempo hip-hop and glitchy techno. Once he joined Ghostly International and adopted the shortened name Lusine, his approach grew more accessible, favoring abstract yet danceable beats on the 2004 album Serial Hodgepodge and placing greater emphasis on lyrics across later projects such as 2009's A Certain Distance and 2017's Sensorimotor. The 2023 full-length Long Light shifted between glitch-pop and ambient post-minimalism.

Raised in Dallas, McIlwain pursued studies in 20th century electronic music and sound design at California Institute of the Arts. He first recorded as L'usine, the French term for "the factory," and after an introduction to Shad T. Scott, co-founder of the Miami-based experimental electro label Isophlux, the Coded EP and the debut album L'usine both appeared on that imprint in 1999. The following year U-Cover released A Pseudo Steady State under the Lusine Icl name; its material was subsequently divided between the two Hymen 12" EPs Freak and Slipthrough. U-Cover also put out the limited live set Coalition 2000 in 2001, while Isophlux issued the Surface EP that same year. Hymen and Mad Monkey jointly released the full-length Iron City in 2002, the same year that saw the 10" Sustain featuring a Funkstörung remix as well as a split 7" with the Buddy System. In 2003, while Lusine Icl's Chao EP came out on Mental.Ind.Records, McIlwain signed with Ghostly International, shortened his alias to Lusine (Armenian for "moon"), and delivered the Push EP; Hymen simultaneously compiled Condensed from earlier compilation tracks and vinyl-only singles.

Serial Hodgepodge marked Lusine's first full-length for Ghostly in 2004. The non-album EPs Inside/Out (2005) and Emerald (2006) led to the 2007 remix collection Podgelism, which featured reworkings by Matthew Dear, Apparat, and John Tejada. That year McIlwain also returned to Hymen under the Lusine Icl name for the minimal ambient album Language Barrier. On Ghostly, A Certain Distance arrived in 2009 with guest vocals from Vilja Larjosto and Caitlin Sherman. Both singers reappeared on the more overtly poppy The Waiting Room in 2013, which additionally included contributions from McIlwain's wife Sarah. The Arterial EP followed in 2014, and Sensorimotor, featuring Benoît Pioulard alongside Larjosto and Sarah McIlwain, surfaced in 2017. The 2019 Retrace EP brought in Jenn Champion and CIFIKA. Long Light, Lusine's 2023 album, contained glitch-pop tracks in the vein of recent releases together with more hypnotic, drone-influenced instrumentals.