Lindsey French’s future-pop project Negative Gemini represents the platonic ideal for a modern artist growing up in the easy-access era of streaming services and broadband internet. The Virginia-bred, New York-based musician has spent much of her life absorbing shoegaze, hip-hop, electronic pop, psychedelia, and sounds from the avant-garde.
French’s early albums, like 2013’s Forget Your Future, were engaging, if a little unsteady as she strove to find the right balance of elements, resulting in songs that hewed too close to her source inspirations. But as she’s grown as a performer and producer, and she’s found harmony in her sound—what she’s put out in the past few years has been positively astonishing.
French’s latest release as Negative Gemini is Bad Baby, a six-song EP and her current creative peak. It calls back to the 1990s, when dream-pop bands like Curve and Slowdive were embracing the beats and production methods of the dance floor. French doesn’t stop there—opener “Infin Path” takes a hard turn into finger-snapping R&B, and the title track takes its slow, skittering groove into darkwave with the application of a lightly stomping drumbeat.
By the end of the EP, she has moved into minimalist pop territory, stripping back as much as she can without falling into silence. What comes to the fore is her voice, an imperfect instrument that breaks and strains in a manner that’s endearing and thrilling rather than off-putting. That alone sets French and Negative Gemini apart from the rest of the crowded pack of young artists: She makes her mistakes sound fucking cool.
