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A somewhat mysterious new producer who goes by the name Running Touch popped onto the scene in 2015, winning a spot on the Listen Out line-up through triple J Unearthed.
Combining his soulful voice with a range of electronic styles, he continuously finds his feet as he explores the many different opportunities that the genre has to offer.
Running Touch shows a different face with each new song he releases. Fittingly, we still have no idea what the anonymous producer looks like.
We were lucky enough to shoot a few questions to Running Touch and quickly discovered that he’s not just a pretty voice and master of production, but also a pensive lyricist, even off stage.
On asking why he’s chosen to stay anonymous, he says: “It’s not so much completely anonymous. If you want to meet me, come and see me. Taking media out of the equation and putting interaction back into a first person setting and adding a focus to the music. Like it should be, right?”
It’s a handy outlook to have as he continues to gain more popularity. Earlier this year we saw the release of Courtesy Of, a brooding yet bouncy tune, full of rich piano chords, smooth synth solos and jagged guitar bursts that fit nicely under the mysterious lyrics and poignant voice of Running Touch.
Courtesy Of picked up close to a million plays on Spotify, as well as helping him sell out his first standalone headline shows around Australia. Definitely an impressive resume for an act that’s barely a year old.
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But how did he find getting started as an electronic artist in Australia?
“It’s turbulent and very serendipitous. It’s one of those things where if it’s meant to happen…it will happen organically, it can’t be forced. It has pretty much all to do with the team you get involved with. If I didn’t have great friends and management it would have been four times harder for me.”
Asking about influences came back with a hugely diverse list of acts; “Michael Jackson, Chet Faker, SAFIA, Kendrick Lamar and Nirvana”, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that his new single has taken him down a very different path to what we’ve heard from him in the past. Levitate (It’s All Too Perfect) is an energetic, dark and poppy dance banger with touches of AlunaGeorge and Disclosure thrown in.
Accompanying the track is a music video that Running Touch himself directed and stars in. The clip uses black and white lighting to maintain an enigmatic air around him, while showing off some fluid moves.
It’s a new direction, and when speaking on what inspired it the artist had plenty to say.
“Anything that is polarizing in style for me is always relative to my live set. Everything is based around a progressive journey live. Starting very band heavy and catering to fans of anything and everything”.
Last week, in true Running Touch style, an intriguing image appeared on his Facebook page that looks suspiciously like a track list for a li’l somethin’. We probed him to find out more.
“That is the bundle of tracks I’ve been tinkering with over the past few months to later sift through into a EP/LP. It’s a difficult task, to cut songs…to decide what will and won’t work. Also, a bunch of left field creative stuff to accompany the EP/LP release. Basically as much experimental creative stuff I can fit into my schedule.”
Looks like there’s plenty more Running Touch on the way! If you can’t wait til then, he’ll be touring with SAFIA in September/October and is set to play a bunch of festivals later this year including This That, Southbound and Beyond The Valley.
