Elskavon aka Chris Bartels and pianist John Hayes found their way to one another through a common interest in ambient-classical composition, and shared influences spanning Chopin to Eno, both in genre and chronology. They have released the debut collaborative album called Du Nord which is out via Western Vinyl.
In Bartels’ own words “We first got together to write a song at John’s former apartment, in around the fall of 2018, something like that. Pursuit of a collaborative single turned into a 4-song EP, which eventually turned into this full-length. We’ve just let things naturally develop. For some songs, John improvised on the piano, sent them to me, and I did some chopping and processing, and added some of the more textural layers. But the majority of the album was written together, in the same room at the same time… these were the most creatively exciting times for us.”
Check the full streaming below.