Biig Piig - 11:11

The slow disco rise of debut album opener ‘4AM’ sets the tone for Biig Piig’s transformation from the experimental to a fully-fledged sad-banger master, harnessing both the euphoric waves of festival headlining dancefloor fillers and the impassioned nostalgia that has elevated the likes of Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware over the past few years. ‘11:11’ amps up the genre-bending that dominated 2023’s ‘Bubblegum’ mixtape with welcome newfound consistency; the likes of ‘Decimal’ and ‘9-5’ bring the essence of East London nightclubs to a whole new fanbase, as do the understated ‘Ponytail’ or the James Blake-esque underground beats of ‘I Keep Losing Sleep’’s interlude.

As insatiably catchy as it is disarming, the album marries its two sides perfectly. ‘Stay Home’ and ‘One Way Ticket’ hark back to Biig Piig’s guitar-led bedroom-pop days, cementing its ability to take a journey through a night out, from hedonistic disco pop to the inevitable comedown, and back to welcome optimism. It’s bookended by perhaps the most telling numbers - the first a shared resignation to loneliness, and the last a glimmer of hope. “No, you’re not alone,” Biig Piig sings as ‘Better Days’ fades to black, an end to a perfect whirlwind played out across a single night.