What So Not

What So Not has assembled a far-reaching catalog that spans hard-hitting festival trap tracks and more spacious, melody-driven electropop numbers. Conceived by Australian producer Chris Emerson, the project began as a partnership with Flume and yielded multiple EPs across the 2010s, among them Gemini in 2015, before the first full-length album, Not All the Beautiful Things, surfaced in 2018 with contributions from Skrillex, Toto, and Rome Fortune. The follow-up, Anomaly, arrived in 2022 and included appearances from Killer Mike, MØ, and DMA's.

The act originated in 2010 when Emerson, recording as Emoh Instead, joined forces with Harley Edward Streten, known professionally as Flume. Their initial outing, the EP 7 Dollar Bill, appeared soon afterward, accompanied by a series of remixes for Major Lazer, Peking Duk, and Tom Piper. In 2013 the second EP, The Quack, emerged and contained a track with American rapper Action Bronson; later that year the single "High You Are [Branchez Remix]" was issued, followed in 2014 by the RL Grime collaboration "Tell Me." Flume departed in 2015, just prior to the release of Gemini, whose title track became a hit for Emerson and Sydney singer-producer Jessica Higgs, aka George Maple.

"Lone" surfaced the next year and formed part of the Divide & Conquer EP, which also featured Kimbra and Rome Fortune alongside further work with Maple. Emerson and Maple reconvened that October for Tkay Maidza's "Afterglow," which carried additional production from Djemba Djemba. Toward the end of 2016, What So Not joined Skrillex and Grime on the single "Waiting." After the 2017 stand-alone release "Better," Emerson prepared his debut album; Not All the Beautiful Things reached listeners in early 2018 and reunited him with Skrillex on "Goh" and Rome Fortune on "Demons" while adding Daniel Johns of Silverchair and the Dissociatives, Slumberjack, San Holo, and Toto to the roster.

In 2019 the bittersweet Herizen collaboration "We Can Be Friends" appeared, succeeded by "OOGAHDAM!" with Diablo and "20:25" with Flux Pavilion and the Chain Gang of 1974. The 2021 singles "The Change" featuring DMA's and "Messin' Me Up" with EVAN GIIA set the stage for the next album. Further 2022 singles spotlighted Oliver Tree, Killer Mike, and Louis the Child before Anomaly arrived in September.