The Toronto-born, Berlin-based DJ/producer Jennifer Loveless has released her debut album, Familiar, via Gerd Janson’s Running Back.
Across seven tracks, Loveless steps away from the harder club music that has filled much of her recent catalog. Familiar moves through ambient, downtempo and deep house, circling memory, time and the odd feeling of old versions of yourself suddenly reappearing. She also wrote a series of poems alongside the album, giving those ideas another place to live.
The past year has been especially busy for Loveless – currently a member of Beatport Next Class of 2026. Her three-track Fever EP landed on Aus Music in late 2025, followed by a remix of Shonky and Jennifer Cardini’s minimal anthem “August In Paris,” the discordant “You Can Play It Wrong Twice” for Butter Sessions’ 15th anniversary, a vibey reinterpretation of Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction” for DJ Tennis’ Peak Time Archives, and “Ricky” for Moxie’s Ten Years of On Loop compilation.
Taken together, it’s a strong snapshot of where Loveless is right now. She can move from club-ready cuts to stranger, more off-center territory with grace and envelope-pushing energy. It’s no wonder why so many pivotal underground labels keep pulling her into anniversary releases, compilations and remix projects.
That makes Running Back – Beatport’s Label of the Month this past August – a pretty natural home for Familiar. The label has always made room for records that sit somewhere between the dance floor and everywhere else. Familiar fits right into that world: club music at the root, but with the pressure dialed down and plenty of space left to breathe, explore and contemplate.