Things are better when they can join together. Like combining Hazelnut gelato with Peanutzilla gelato at Cow and Moon* to vanquish a rumbling tummy, or when all the dinozords combine to make the kickass Megazord to vanquish intergalactic evil. While they may not be satisfying your sugar cravings or beating down rubber suited alien monsters, Resin Moon and James Lakes have combined forces to create the gem of a track Closer.
Prolific Alice Springs producer Resin Moon teams up with Sunshine Coast wunderkind James Lakes to bring us Closer, a compelling and playful electro gem.
The man behind Resin Moon Dave Crowe is based in Alice Springs and has been working under this guise for the last few years. His track Awake earned him a lot of praise including being awarded best Electronic Song at the 2013 NT Song of the Year Awards and getting a Highly Recommended seal of approval from the International Song Writing Competition in the same year. Meanwhile his partner in crime James Lakes has been keeping busy over the last year making some sweet remixes and producing some killer bangers of his own too. And would you believe it, he’s only 15 too.
The fateful collaboration that would be Closer came about when James’ older brother, a radio DJ in Armidale gave Resin Moon’s Awake to James to remix. Says Dave on their collaboration “From then we’ve been sharing songs and I came to hear his song ‘Closer’ a couple of months ago. The kid is really talented and I loved the song and offered to remix it. I put my own Resin Moon spin on the song and we decided to release it as a collaboration“. With the two producers collaborating together on Closer their combined talents really shine, the pair clearly bring out the best in each other. Resin Moon’s effortless synth-pop leanings work so well with Lakes’ more aggressive, manic treatments. It’s a fun, complex track that houses many varied styles, shifts in tone and tempo changes without becoming jarring or a complete mess.
It’s a compelling track to immerse yourself in. With so many styles sitting on the electronic music spectrum it’s fun to pick apart everything the guys have managed to incorporate into Closer. The mellow synths weave in and out throughout the track whilst the more sporadic beats dance scuttle about, the limited vocals nonchalantly riding the waves they create. When that dramatic shift in tone comes along it brings a completely new and exciting dynamic to the track. Closer in word word is just fun. It’s playful, and a little ambitious.
Props to Dave and James have to given, not just for their work on the track but their ability to collaborate so well having never met in person. “Its been pretty awesome to work with James over the past year or so” says Dave. “We’ve still actually never met each other which is weird considering how much time we’ve spent listening and working on each other’s music! This is the world we live in now – I’m mixing an artist from London at the moment who I’ve never met, and an LA artist I’ve met briefly. There are pros and cons to working virtually – there’s definitely nothing quite like being in the same room with another musical mind, but collaborating over distance works well for me being based in remote Australia“.
*Did someone say sponsorship deal? We’ll gladly accept free gelato as payment.
