Jai Agnish

It’s never too late to rekindle a passion for music.

Take it from Jai Agnish.

The indie-electro-pop musician from Montclair, N.J., has been releasing new music for the first time in 13 years. His latest single is called “Broken Time Machines.” It’s a dreamy song soaked in atmospheric synths, drum machine beats, and subtle acoustic guitar. It calls to mind music by <a href="spotify:artist:1P6U1dCeHxPui5pIrGmndZ" data-name="Air">Air</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2wouN3QXejYa5tKetYdcVX" data-name="Com Truise">Com Truise</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4MXUO7sVCaFgFjoTI5ox5c" data-name="Sufjan Stevens">Sufjan Stevens</a>.

Agnish wrote, produced, and recorded “Obvious to Me” and teamed up with Daniel Smith (<a href="spotify:artist:5XvxZQicSAiQtsXZ4lXWDo" data-name="Danielson">Danielson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4MXUO7sVCaFgFjoTI5ox5c" data-name="Sufjan Stevens">Sufjan Stevens</a>), who mixed the song. The fellow Garden State dweller runs Familyre Studio out of Clarksboro, N.J.

The cover photo for Agnish’s new single is by Dennis Dalelio, a long-time friend and collaborator.

“Broken Time Machines” is the latest single from Agnish and marks his continued foray into the world of DAWS and midi controllers. Lately, he has been constructing music from the synth up, which departs from earlier material that used the acoustic guitar as the primary compositional tool. The guitar is an accompanying instrument for now.

Pop Matters wrote of Agnish: “There’s an endearing quality to his voice.”

And Pitchfork, with a 7.6 rating of his debut album Automata in 2000, said: “Agnish blends electronics, toys, and folk into a chalice and offers it to you as a gift. Both familiar and unlike anything else, you’d be wise to taste it.”