Ninajirachi and Kota Banks are two of Australia’s brightest burning pop luminaries.
Individually, they’ve carved completely unique paths within the music scene, and last year they dropped a collab EP, True North. It’s an eclectic, intense listen that harkens to the glistening sounds of hyperpop that glitches and bends in futuristic motions without compromising catchiness.
Ninajirachi is one of the recipients of the American Express Music Backers grant – a fund created to support the incredible visions of musicians, producers, venue owners and more around the country.
Using her share of the grant, Ninajirachi called on Kota to create an immersive visual performance experience to express the ideas behind True North fully.
“What inspired us was being able to have our music translate live visually. The AMEX Music Backers grant presented the perfect opportunity to incorporate the visuals with the music. It’s such a strong and integral part of the process,” said Ninajriachi.
You can watch their performance at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum below and further dive into how they crafted the experience.
“Parts of the bass would make parts of the artwork move. What Kota would do with her voice would make the artwork move,” explained Ninajirachi.
The pair have been making music together for a while, but it wasn’t until the EP that their creative powers completely crossed over.
“It all began with our solo projects, and we’ve both been mutual fans of each other for ages. We had our first session together in 2017, and then we didn’t speak for a year after,” said Kota.
“The crossover was fun, upbeat pop music that was a bit danceable. As we got to know each other, we started branching out and making different kinds of stuff.”
