Darwin Deez: Up In The Clouds
Right now, everyone is humming along to the infectious tune of Darwin Deez, the deliciously quirky New Yorker with a knack for a catchy tune and a penchant for a gloriously offbeat lyric. From picking up devout fans at radio with the likes of Zane Lowe, Lauren Laverne and Stuart Radcliffe, to playing sold out shows across the UK (both on the NME Radar Tour and on his own headline gigs) and gracing every UK summer music festival of note, it seems like the world has fallen under Darwin Deez’s ragged, charming spell.
And now, to ease us into the summer, Darwin releases his newest single, “Up in the Clouds”, a handclap-equipped belter of a love song which manages, simultaneously, to be both moving and witty all at once, with Deez telling a wronged love that “gravity’s weaker when you’re near, my dear” before launching into the simple yet gorgeously effective chorus. The B-side, meanwhile, is the brand new track “Hey Mom” which Deez has recently been playing live. It promises to be yet another powerful weapon in Deez’s already potent pop arsenal..
In addition, we have the first ever official remix of Mr Deez that comes from Gilles Bousquet, known as Mr Flash (for good reason), the very first signing to the archetype stable of cool, worldwide club-based brand Ed Banger. In addition to his own releases on Ed Banger, Mr Flash has produced Mos’ Def and remixed Kanye West, and he’s added his select touch of hip-pop & experimental ‘80’s flair to a very sexy & groovy re-imagining of Darwin’s latest single, ‘Up In The Clouds’, exaggerating the contrast between dreamlike slo-mo verses and an ecstatic ‘punch the air’ chorus.
Jake Bullit, the son of a Wizzard (Jake’s dad played keys in the glam rock incarnation of the Electric Light Orchestra co-founder, Roy Wood) on the other hand emphasizes euphoric contemporary space disco grooves, and features another family talent, courtesy of the most audacious bass-slapping solo from his mum. Jake has not so long ago delivered fantastic remixes for Sebastien Tellier’s ‘La Ritournelle’, and Mstrkrft’s ‘Heartbreaker’, and this mix has already been road-tested by ‘Horse Meat Disco’ legend DJ Severino to full effect.
