Max HeyraudThis week’s Local Selection comes from Irish-Filipino DJ and promoter Jenn Hession, whose blistering, bass-heavy sound moves fluidly through hardcore, dubstep, jungle and beyond.
Since launching her DJ career at the close of 2019, Jenn has steadily carved out a distinct place within Dublin’s underground circuit. Alongside her work as a DJ, she founded Instinct Society, originally a college collective that became a gateway to the wider Irish electronic music community and beyond. Emerging through a mix of live gigs and DIY rave spaces in late 2020, Jenn first became known for sets rooted in harder, high-energy sounds, before gradually expanding her musical scope.
Her trajectory through the local scene has since seen her play some of Dublin’s key venues, including Here & Now, Cellar, Wigwam and The Racket Space, among others. Through collaborations and lineups shared with a broad range of artists, Jenn’s approach has evolved into one that embraces fluidity across genres, driven by a continual curiosity for new sounds and styles.
Her contribution to the Local Selection Mix is an ode to UK hardcore and rave-soaked jungle techno, packed with euphoric, ’90s-leaning weapons that balance intensity with moments of pure release. It’s a space where rapid, divergent mixing feels as natural as allowing tracks the room to breathe, letting long, blissful breakdowns unfold into prismatic, near-transcendent moments. Jenn manages both with ease, a hallmark of a great DJ, and this relentless journey through breakneck jungle stands as a sharp reflection of her sound and sensibility.