MKSTN (em-kay-es-tee-en)
Blending elements of analog and digital with programming and live performance, MKSTN’s music is made for lucid dreamstates, for connection and exploration — emotional, intellectual, sensory. A conduit from his inner tenderness to the internet’s often impersonal and sometimes impenetrable machine, MKSTN’s blend of chillwave, dream pop, and lofi house influences explore themes of love, technology, duality and time.
Both sunny and sullen, club and bedroom, hard and soft, MKSTN’s music has been featured by notable artists like Washed Out and has been licensed in campaigns such as Haven x NIKE ACG. His debut album, Desires (2022), led to support from the iconic Berlin-based label, Majestic Casual, while his new album, CONTENT, leans into his local network, an impressive company of young talent. Collaborators like Chino De Villa (Jessie Reyez), Braden Sauder (Luna Li) and Madeleine Kay and Brendan Thomas (Strings From Paris) highlight MKSTN’s angelically-androidique vocals and his fluid production.
Fascinated by space, time and existentialism the Toronto producer started as a professional dancer specializing in street dancing. He often felt like an outsider, choreographing and dancing to obscure trip-hop and electronic music from artists like Junior Boys, Booka Shade, and Boys Noize, but found an entirely new world of music in the underground dance scenes.
“When I was dancing, I would often create mixes for myself and the dance crews I was part of,” MKSTN recalls. “I used a program called Acoustica Mixcraft to splice together pieces of downloaded music. Around the same time, a high school friend introduced me to making beats on a computer.”
A timely injury led MKSTN down an adventurous path, spending the money he’d saved for flights and accommodations to LA on a keyboard and DJ equipment instead. “That decision changed my life forever.”
CONTENT arrives May 15, 2025.
- Written by Caitlin Veitch
