Sometimes electronic music can comes across as cold or non-human to the untrained ear (which to be honest, is most of us), so finding digitally made music that has a real heart to it is something that we really cherish. Award-winning DJ and producer, Josh Hawkins, aka Super Duper, has made that search very easy for us with the release of his double A-side ‘Crying In The Rain / My Family My Friends’.

Both of these tracks combine texture, eclectic electronic production with a soulful lyric style and uplifting energy. ‘Crying In The Rain’ is a finely tuned, layered piece of electronica inspired by the producer’s love for older music presented in fresh, innovative ways. For this one, he invited artists Ian Keaggy and Louis Johnson (Lonas) to write a song that would sound like The Eagles if they made music right now. Combined with Super Duper’s unique perspective, that original acoustic ballad was transformed into this vibrant, dance track that you can now hear. Paired with the first track, ‘My Family My Friends’, is a chunky, sloping anthem that continues on the feel-good vibes with impossible-to-resist singalong lyrics.

This double package is an enticing taste of Super Duper’s upcoming album. We’re ready and waiting!

“This was one of the first songs I wrote after finishing my last album. I wasn’t exactly sure what direction I wanted to go in stylistically so I invited a handful of artist/producer friends to go on a writing retreat to give me a hand with writing new songs. I was listening to a lot of older music at the time and wanted to try sampling but I knew that would be a really difficult task to pull off because of all the red tape and fees. So instead, I asked my buddies Ian Keaggy and Louis Johnson (Lonas) to write a song in the vein of The Eagles to kind of create my own sample to flip. I asked them to make it as authentic as possible and only sing over a single guitar. I wanted the vocals to feel grounded in an organic place and not have any “electronic” or “dance” influence. They came up with a beautiful acoustic ballad that had an amazing vocal performance. I took it and flipped it like it was from a vinyl I found but the beauty of reverse engineering samples is that I could isolate the vocal and have Lonas sing a few new parts later once the production was fleshed out. What you end up with is a heartfelt vocal performance that would have never come if Lonas had heard the final instrumentation from the beginning. I’m always looking for ways to combine contrasting moods and sounds in new and exciting ways and this song embodies that perfectly.”

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