Among the news this week, a new collaboration between producer Danny L Harle, whom we love especially since ‘Harlecore’, and Caroline Polachek stands out. The two already worked together on her last two albums, ‘Pang’ and ‘Desire, I Want to Turn Into You’, and it is Danny himself who explains what this ‘Azimuth’ means in that context:
«’Azimuth’ is the culmination of the work that Caroline and I have been developing to incorporate her voice into my music. I sometimes call it the “trance siren.” “You can see it in songs like ‘Insomnia’ from ‘Pang’ and ‘On The Beach’ from the ‘Death Stranding 2’ soundtrack, but this was the first time I managed to translate it into my style of dance music.”
He continues: “The melody of ‘Azimuth’ could only have been sung by Caroline: it’s designed around her voice. I can’t imagine anyone else singing it or doing a performance like that. It also allowed us to play with scale, space and stillness like never before. For me, ‘Azimuth’ is a trance ballad, hopeless but hopeful, best heard in a club, in a sunken cathedral.
Our Song of the Day today, ‘Azimuth’ manages to bring to the dance floor all that new-age body that Caroline Polachek’s voice has. It’s funny that the producer himself calls it a “trance ballad” when it precisely contains a devilish rhythm, but it undoubtedly has to do with its spiritual component, with its transcendental sound. “Azimuth” is an astronomical, navigation and other term, which in the lyrics of this song serves as a metaphor for a north that is sought when lost: “I ask the rain how we got here, how we could have gotten so far from home.”
According to XL’s own press release, Danny L Harle wants to establish his solo career with both this song and ‘Starlight’, his collaboration with PinkPantheress. In addition, a series of performances by Danny have been announced, including Nitsa, in Barcelona, on February 6.
