PICK OF YOU

By By Gino

Scottish producer Proc Fiskal has steadily carved a niche for himself at the forefront of experimental electronic music, and his latest track, “Pic Of U,” continues to affirm his place as a shape-shifter in the post-club landscape. Known for his restless creativity and genre-defying aesthetic, Fiskal (real name Joe Powers) has long been blurring the lines between the cerebral and the sensual. On “Pic Of U,” he delivers a track that feels as emotionally precise as it is sonically amorphous, a cybernetic lullaby that pings with digital desire and shimmering melancholy.

Building on the forward-thinking sound of his 2021 Hyperdub release Siren Spine Sysex, Proc Fiskal refines his craft even further here. That album was a wild, elastic journey that bounced between SOPHIE’s hyper-pop sensibilities and the cool, crystalline surfaces of artists like Koreless and Ulla. On “Pic Of U,” however, the energy feels more focused, more intimate. The track trades maximalist bursts for intricately layered restraint. It opens with fluttering synths and glistening textures, gently drawing the listener into a world where every sound feels like a pixelated memory or a half-remembered dream.

Vocals distorted, processed, and stacked in a chorus of modulated voices pose the coy, looping question: “Are there any more pics of you?” It’s at once flirtatious and haunting, echoing the tone of a curious DM or an algorithmic whisper in a late-night scroll session. These vocal fragments are not merely decorative but serve as emotional anchors, giving the track a kind of uncanny warmth. Fiskal transforms the language of digital intimacy, represented by notification pings, sighs, and echoes, into musical motifs, embedding a sense of longing within the track's architecture.

“Pic Of U” walks a tightrope between ambient-pop and club-ready production. There’s no traditional drop or dancefloor payoff here, yet a subtle, propulsive energy courses beneath the surface. The beat is implied more than asserted, stitched together by rhythmic flickers and tonal shifts that evoke movement without ever forcing it. This hybrid nature, part meditative drift, part flirtatious pulse, makes the track feel like something you could dance to in your head more than on the floor, embodying the paradoxes of modern connection: fast and slow, intimate and distant, synthetic yet strangely sincere.

What’s most compelling about “Pic Of U” is how effectively it captures a distinctly 21st-century emotion, digital longing. In an age where affection is often filtered through screens and feelings are expressed via emojis and voice notes, Fiskal has created a sound that mirrors this new emotional language. There’s vulnerability in the modulation, sensuality in the glitch. It’s a song about wanting more, not just more images, but more closeness, more presence delivered through a palette that’s both cool-headed and heartbreakingly tender. In doing so, Proc Fiskal doesn’t just evolve his sound; he offers a sonic snapshot of contemporary intimacy, one notification chime at a time.