A visionary electronic composer whose percussion-driven, polyrhythmic work has reshaped the sound of dance music, American artist Jerrilynn Patton – better known as Jlin – has traveled light years since she was a steel factory worker in her hometown of Gary, Indiana a little less than a decade ago. Hot off a Pulitzer Prize nomination for music – and with a massively anticipated new album in the pipeline – the high priestess of beats is set to make her Vivid LIVE debut, playing the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre for one show only.

Inspired by the industrial spirit of her birthplace, Jlin came up through the clattering machine funk and dance battles of Chicago’s footwork scene, before surging ahead with a forward-thinking sound that quickly became all her own. Splicing dark, unsettling energy with the euphoria of the dancefloor, Jlin’s complex hyper-rhythms and dizzying drum programming twisted electronic dance music into unexpected shapes, pushing clubbers out of their comfort zones and toward the edge of tomorrow. Hailed by critics as one of the best records of the decade, Jlin’s second album Black Origami (2017) crystalised her disorientating, brutally funky sound, and confirmed the multi-talented artist as one of music’s most thrilling sonic explorers. Follow-up records like Embryo (2021) and Perspective (2023) were similarly acclaimed, as was her work with renowned choreographer Wayne McGregor on Autobiography (2018). Jlin has collaborated with artists including the late icon SOPHIE, A.I. pioneer Holly Herndon and William Basinski, and lent her remix skills to tracks by Björk, Max Richter, St. Vincent and many others. Last year, she was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music. In 2024, Jlin will release her long-awaited new album, Akoma, which features collaborations with Kronos Quartet, Björk and – on the first single, “The Precision of Infinity” – the legendary composer Philip Glass.