Calcou offers his elegant take on downtempo electronica with his latest single “Below”.
The German multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer defines his music as ‘a space where jazz meets chill and deep House blends into electronica’. While creating music, the artist finds inspiration in the works of Kiasmos, Bonobo, Christian Löffler and Caribou with his latest release being reminiscent of the likes of Fejká, Janus Rasmussen and Rohne.
The track combines beautifully arranged synth works, mesmerizing percussion and irresistible grooviness, to offer an ear-caressing and mind-easing journey. Calcou explains:
This time I tried to explore space – musically, but also in a broader sense as a feeling of restriction. By leaving certain musical decisions to algorithms, I tried to overcome these restrictions with playfulness and randomness, acknowledging the fact that control seems like an illusion now more than ever. The drums in “Below” circle around a field recording I took when I was walking along the stony beach of Fécamp in Northern France. The vocal elements are from my friend Julian Muller, a singer-songwriter based in the Bay Area in California. Most of the musical elements in ‘Below’ are samples of my own recordings. When things get wobbly and detuned, scattered by slicing or granular synthesis, I get this feeling of innovation and discovery, something nobody else will be able to recreate, even myself, except for that one little lucky moment in time and space.”
“Below” is taken off Calcou’s upcoming EP Places, due in May, so stay tuned.