Bad Timing

D E N A released Bad Timing recently and it’s been stuck in the rotation. Bulgarian artist, 29, signed to K7—one of those labels worth paying attention to. For the last couple years she’s been putting out these lean electronic tracks that don’t try very hard to win you over. Cash, Diamond Rings, Swimming Pools, Games, Thin Rope. Songs that work best when you’re not paying full attention, when they can just sit in your space and do their thing.

What interests me about her work is how much she doesn’t do. There’s a confidence in that—the restraint, the refusal to add more texture or build toward some obvious moment. It’s the opposite of the default instinct in electronic music, which is usually to pile on. More, more, more. She goes the other direction.

Bad Timing is quieter than some of her earlier singles. It’s a track that reveals itself slowly, if at all. You play it and then realize two hours have passed and you’ve had it on repeat the whole time without noticing.

Next year she’s putting out a debut album called Flash. I’m curious what that sounds like—whether she expands the sound or just makes an entire album of these understated, isolated moments. Either way, she has the taste and the discipline to make it work. I’ll find out when it’s out.