Revelation was our first ever track. The demo title was Fletch, a nod to Depeche Mode, one of many sources of influence. In early 2017 we revisited it as we always loved the melody and felt it could be something special. We extended it by adding in a melancholic New Order-esque section followed by a refrain that brings to mind early Blondie records. The middle 16 piano solo is probably the closest we’ll ever come to writing anything remotely classical. It’s called Revelation because when we started out we weren’t sure where we’d end up; it’s been a revelation!
We’re big fans of Giorgio Moroder so the bass line owes a lot to him. Air is the first of a number of tracks where we experimented with vocal loops, in both complete and chopped form. To balance the sweetness of the vocals we made the synths harsher. We played around with the length of a ‘moment of silence' for quite a while - trying to make it as long as possible without losing the pace of the song. Thereafter follows a crescendo of sound - a similar moment to that in P: Machinery by Propaganda. The crescendo clears the air and allows Air to finish upbeat.
Inspired by the results of using vocal clips on Air, Icons continued in the same vein. A house/trance mashup with gratuitos use of sine falls and a synthesised ‘bye’, it concludes with a melancholic, repetitive synth that reminds us of Soft Cell and laments the recent [at the time] loss of two icons; Bowie and Prince.
Chance tells a story of doubt and insecurity and reminds us to take hold of every chance. Like Air, once the negativity dissipates the track becomes an uplifting ode. It was the first track where we experimented with guitar sounds and ended up with an 8 that reminds us of Another Brick In The Wall by Pink Floyd.
The first mix of Deeper used complete vocal loop sentences. In the end we decided we preferred the version without them. The title however still comes from them. Dear Prudence (Siouxsie and the Banshees’ version) had been playing earlier and this sound made it in to the track along with some Bronski Beat. Overall it has a Freemasonsvibe courtesy of some F9 loops by them.
On Haze we channelled our inner T. Rex to bring some glam [synth] rock to the track. We got so immersed in this sound that we initially called it Perfume Haze - a nod to Jimmy Hendrix. We created a vocal track using Vocaloid but decided the vocals sounded too manufactured so we remixed it to the version on the album. A ‘perfume haze’ is created when everyone is trying to outdo each other to gain attention and was the theme of the track.
Florin is the first of a trio of pulsating club tracks. We previously created a soundtrack for a video of a journey down a snowy mountain (you can find it on YouTube). The motion of the cable car heavily influenced the beat and sound. We used this concept on Florin to create rhythm and pace. About a minute and a half in, there are some percussion elements that sound like they might have come straight from Love On Your Side by the Thompson Twins and again the Moroder influence is evident here. The name Florin is a nod to the band’s Dutch origins.
Ibiza has played a big part in shaping our sound so the next two tracks give a shout-out to the island. Amnesia started life as a prog-rock track called Squire (nod to Chris from Yes) until we heavily upped the trance factor. It is influenced by one of our all time favourite trance tracks 1998 by Binary Finary (especially the Paul van Dykremix - more about him on the next track).
Cream was inspired by a night at Cream (Ibiza) with one of our heroes; Paul van Dyk and Diplo -who was becoming known more mainstream. We love tracks that just when you think they can’t build further, they do. We tried this with Cream which was quite a challenge as just half a minute in it was already pretty full on. So we gave ourselves some breathing space in the middle to be able to return all guns blazing.
We wanted to close the album with a chill-out track. Santos, named after All Saints day; the day it was completed in Spain, takes you back to the beach with a warm breeze and the lapping sounds of the sea. For you this may be early morning as the clubs close or watching the sunset! The inspiration for this track comes from one of our favourite CDs - a rare chill-out album called Sleepless by 6th Sense. A project by one of the Freemasons and a Japanese producer, it features the amazing track Paradise written and sung by another hero Judie Tzuke.
