Medasin

At fifteen, Grant Nelson was in outpatient rehab in Plano, Texas. A counselor named Irene helped him see a way forward. Three years later, he named his debut album after her. That album, released in 2018, told the story of where Medasin came from, and he launched a GoFundMe to help Irene open a coffee shop near her facility where recovering addicts could build community.

Nelson grew up in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, and first touched production software at twelve after his older brother downloaded beat-making tools onto the family computer. By sixteen, he was serious enough to enter iStandard, a traveling producer showcase, and won the Dallas round in late 2013. The New York finals introduced him to a wider network of producers. He connected with the SoundCloud collective Film Noir, a global crew of beatmakers with founders in Jamaica and London, and fell in with artists like Oshi, Krs., and BNJMN. Around the same time, he met Masego, a saxophonist and vocalist who was building a sound he called "trap house jazz." The two released the Pink Polo EP in 2015, blending Masego's improvisational sax with Nelson's layered, jazz-inflected production.

Official remixes drove Medasin's profile higher. His rework of Portugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" earned a nomination for Remix of the Year at the 2017 Electronic Music Awards. He landed official remix slots for DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts," Martin Garrix's "Scared to Be Lonely," and Joji's "Will He." His original single "Daydream," featuring JOBA, became one of his most-streamed tracks.

Irene arrived on ALT:Vision Records in 2018, a nine-track record moving between indie R&B, jazz-laced instrumentals, and vocal features from Kaz Moon and Sophie Meiers. In 2020, RIPPLS followed with a wider palette, pulling in Cautious Clay, Duckwrth, and Naomi Wild across fourteen tracks. Then Nelson went quiet for nearly three years. He resurfaced in February 2023 with new music and released Always in a Hurry that April, ten tracks of lo-fi dreamscapes reflecting a slower, more deliberate creative process. His 2024 album sounds pushed further still, a nine-track ambient record built through computerless recording and improvised sessions with collaborators including saxophonist Hailey Niswanger and multi-instrumentalist Lo-Fang.

Across five albums in eight years, Medasin has moved from SoundCloud future bass to jazz-electronic hybrids to ambient sound design, each release a deliberate departure from the last.