The naturalist and writer Diane Ackerman has a concept called “deep play.” She argues that being totally immersed in non-productive play is often the catalyst for emotional and creative breakthroughs, the sort of quantum leaps that allow for novel solutions and transcendent catharsis. While the concept might sound academic, it was the living, breathing ethos of Frost Fest 2026.
I wasn’t thinking about any of this on Saturday at the festival, but a couple days later, something Lulu Prost said during our interview came back to me: “The way that all of us as artists live our lives, we’re always on like complete opposite sides of the planet. If we are at the same city, we’re playing the same time, so a lot of these people, we haven’t seen their set. And we’re both just fans. So it’s just a huge hangout.” Earlier in the day, Angel Prost had detailed her pre-show plans: oversized black hoodie, big sunglasses, standing at the back of the venue to soak it all in. For a day, Knockdown Center was more than just the site of the sibling duo’s longest set ever; it was their strobe-lit playground.
If the Frost Children were simply enjoying the ride, it would be hard to blame them. The festival lineup had been reworked last minute due to visa drama that prevented other artists from entering the country. The Prosts were “super bummed,” but said the silver lining was adding kimj and pinponpanpon to the lineup. And while they were in good spirits, the duo’s recent work has been shaped by adversity, including a stalker situation that drove them to seek refuge in Japan.
Still, the energy remained high. The duo has been riding the momentum of producing a wide swath of tracks on Kim Petras’s long-awaited debut album. The camaraderie was palpable; the day after the festival, Angel posted a photo of an apartment full of collaborators, captioning it “Just made We Are The World 2.” The hangout might have been ticketed, but the sense of community was priceless.
That theme of connection recurred throughout the day. We learned that kuru and kimj have known each other for years, and Kim Petras even made a surprise appearance to perform “RADIO” during the Frost Children’s headlining set. As for this writer, Frost Fest was a lovely opportunity to feel the music instead of overthinking it. pinponpanpon’s rave-ready tunes drew an enormous crowd, and kimj’s dubstep-forward set provided a nostalgic nod to the genre’s peak.
The night offered insight into Kim Petras’s own listening habits as well. When she ran into Umru and I outside in the smoking section of the afterparty, she gamely informed us that her favorite historical figure is Sporus and expressed a desperate need to see Angel Money. When the group eventually linked up behind the DJ booth, it felt less like a coronation than a reunion with long-lost cousins.
There have been other moments of live music that hit just as hard this summer, but when Angel and Lulu performed “SATELLITES” off their latest EP, the song’s incisive hook sunk its teeth deep into the room. When Lulu sings, “So you wanna live a life like mine tonight? / Get your moment in the spotlight,” it’s a clear send-up of their real-life stalker. But on the floor of Knockdown and later at Silo, the entire room screaming along, the meaning shifted. As Angel Prost told me of their time in Japan, “What if we just kept going? What if the session never ended?” If the session is good enough, it feels exactly like Frost Fest.
