Tag: Belau Luz feat. Sexto Sentido

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Belau Share Lush and Dreamy Collaboration with Beth Hirsch

With the release of their debut single “Island of Promise,” the Budapest-based electronic music duo and JOVM mainstays  Belau — Peter Kedves and Buzas Krisztian — quickly exploded into their homeland’s scene while establishing buoyant, summery, dance floor friendly sound designed to evoke “cheerful places, filled with sunshine, where one can relax, unwind and find peace and harmony,” the duo explain. 

“Island of Promise” landed at #1 on Deezer Hungary, one of the country’s largest streaming services and eventually amassed over 500,000 streams. And adding to a growing profile, the song was featured in in the HBO Hungary series Aranyélet and was part of an international Pepsi ad campaign shown in 33 countries.

The Budapest-based duo’s full-length debut, 2016’s The Odyssey was nominated for and won a a Hungarian Grammy for Best Electronic Music Album. They supported the album with an intense, international touring schedule: 120 shows in 19 countries with a run across the global festival circuit, which included stops at Eurosonic, Sziget, Reeperbahn, Untold, and SXSW. 

After the release of The Odyssey, Belau released a series of remixes of tracks off their debut.

Their sophomore album, 2019’s Colourwave featured: 

  • “Breath,” a sultry, dance floor friendly collaboration with Sophie Lindinger centered around glitchy beats and a sinuous yet anthemic hook

  • The Massive Attack-like “Natural Pool“

  • “Rapture,” a collaboration with Blue Foundation‘s Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg centered around a trip hop-inspired production featuring shimming synth arpeggios, wobbling low end and Stubbe Teglbjærg’s sultry vocals

  • “Essence,” a collaboration with Sophie Barker that features Barker’s sultry vocals gliding over a shimmering production centered around looping, reverb-drenched guitar shimmering synths, skittering beats and an enormous hook that brought Third-era Portishead and Octo Octa to mind – but a with a brooding air.

During the height of the pandemic, the duo teamed up with Sexto Sentido for  “Luz,” a decided change in sonic direction that was a blend of traditional Afro-Cuban folk music and modern electronica paired with lyrics sung in Yoruba and Spanish that was included as part of Colourwave DLX.

Colourwave DLX also featured an Ohxalá remix of “Breath” feat. Sophie Lindinger that retained Lindinger’s sultry vocal and paired with a dub-leaning house production that gave the song a completely different feel — a bracing chilliness that brought Octo Octa’s Between Both Selves to mind. 

Last year, the Hungarian JOVM mainstays shared “Dreamstate,” which paired Aussie vocalist Akacia’s sultry vocal with an atmospheric R&B-like production featuring skittering, reverb-drenched beats, a reverb-drenched guitar solo, paired with glistening synth arpeggios that evokes a half-remembered, feverish dream.

The Hungarian duo’s latest single “Ethereal” features gentle layers of glistening synth arpeggios and skittering beats serving as a lush bed for Beth Hirsch’s gorgeous and expressive delivery. Hirsch contributed vocals for AIR‘s beloved 1998 album Moon Safari — and fittingly “Ethereal” captures the Hungarian JOVM mainstays at arguably their lushest and most nostalgia-inducing of their growing catalog.

“We think the new song will be a special, nostalgic, dreamy part of our upcoming LP. For us it was a huge honour that Beth said yes to our request, not just because Moon Safari is one of the masterpiece of our genre, but also because her voice made the song really unique,” the members of Belau say in press notes.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Belau Teams Up with Akacia on The Dreamy and Atmospheric “Dreamstate”

With the release of their debut single “Island of Promise,” the Budapest-based electronic music duo and JOVM mainstays  Belau — Peter Kedves and Buzas Krisztian — quickly exploded into their homeland’s scenes while establishing bouyant, summery, dance floor friendly sound designed to evoke “cheerful places, filled with sunshine, where one can relax, unwind and find peace and harmony,” the duo explain.

“Island of Promise” landed at #1 on Deezer Hungary, one of the country’s largest string services and reventually amassed over 500,000 streams. The song was featured in the HBO Hungary series Aranyélet. And adding to a growing profile, “Island of Promise” was part of an international Pepsi ad campaign shown in 33 countries.

The Budapest-based duo’s full-length debut, 2016’s The Odyssey was nominated for and won a a Hungarian Grammy for Best Electronic Music Album. They supported the album with an intense, international touring schedule: 120 shows in 19 countries with a run across global festival circuit, which included stops at Eurosonic, Sziget, Reeperbahn, Untold, and SXSW.

After the release of The Odyssey, Belau released a series of remixes of tracks off their debut. Their sophomore album, 2019’s Colourwave featured:

  • “Breath,” a sultry, dance floor friendly collaboration with Sophie Lindinger centered around glitchy beats and a sinuous yet anthemic hook
  • The Massive Attack-like “Natural Pool“
  • “Rapture,” a collaboration with Blue Foundation‘s Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg centered around a trip hop-inspired production featuring shimming synth arpeggios, wobbling low end and Stubbe Teglbjærg’s sultry vocals
  • “Essence,” a collaboration with Sophie Barker that features Barker’s sultry vocals gliding over a shimmering production centered around looping, reverb-drenched guitar shimmering synths, skittering beats and an enormous hook that brought Third-era Portishead and Octo Octa to mind – but a with a brooding air.

During the height of the pandemic, the duo teamed up with Sexto Sentido for  “Luz,” a decided change in sonic direction that was a blend of traditional Afro-Cuban folk music and modern electronica paired with lyrics sung in Yoruba and Spanish. To my ears, “Luz” reminded me of JOVM mainstays Ibeyi. And according to the band, the song, which was included as part of Colourwave DLX album was a spiritual journey for the duo.

The Colourwave DLX album also featured an Ohxalá remix of “Breath” feat. Sophie Lindinger that retained Lindinger’s sultry vocal and paired with a dub-leaning house production that gave the song a completely different feel: a bracing chilliness that brought Octo Octa’s Between Both Selves to mind.

Belau’s first single of the year, “Dreamstate” features Aussie pop vocalist Akacia, who has amassed over 50 million streams across the different streaming platforms. “Dreamstate” pairs the Aussie vocalist’s sultry and expressive vocals with an atmospheric R&B production featuring skittering reverb-drenched beats, a reverb-drenched guitar solo, glistening synth arpeggios to a create a song that evokes a half-remembered and feverish dream.

“The history of transfiguration is deeply rooted in our culture, but for most of us, the grace we are possibly able to live towards ourselves is distant, mystical and looks impossible to have access to in this profane world,” the Hungarian JOVM mainstays say in press notes. “Although this road, on the other hand, is available for everyone, if you walk through it, it feels like an actual ‘dreamstate.’ The song tells the story of a life beyond our own limits, a shift from stagnation to progress, a way out of our own dread. A man who is much wiser than us once claimed that only if such an internal process takes place in the individual hearts – and then, of course, outwards – is the way to bring eternal peace to the societies of the world. And there is certainly nothing else that Belau could support even more in these increasing dynamics of the world. We are all made out of gold.”

The accompanying video was filmed in Malta and follows a woman as she explores and wanders around the Mediterranean island nation. Through the use of prism and kaleidoscopic filters, the gorgeous surroundings are given a dream-like quality.

“We made a video for ‘Dreamstate’ in Malta with our good friend. Spent four days on these beautiful islands, at daytime we discovered the breathtaking landscapes at the evening we played some live shows, such good memories” the members of Belau recall.

The duo are currently working on their third album — and are touring across Europe, including some festival dates.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

With the release of their debut single “Island of Promise,” the Budapest-based electronic music production and artist duo  Belau — Peter Kedves and Buzas Krisztian — quickly exploded into their homeland’s scene for establishing a buoyant, summery and dance floor friendly sound that according to the band meant to evoke “cheerful places, filled with sunshine, where one can relax, unwind and find peace and harmony.” Since its release, “Island of Promise” landed at #1 on Deezer Hungary, one of the country’s largest string services, amassed over 500,000 streams, was featured in the HBO Hungary series Aranyélet, and in an international  Pepsi ad campaign shown in 33 countries.

Belau’s full-length debut, 2016’s The Odyssey won a Hungarian Grammy for Best Electronic Music Album. The duo supported the album with an intense touring schedule — 120 shows in 19 countries with stops across the international festival circuit with sets at Eurosonic, Sziget, Reeperbahn, Untold, and SXSW. After The Odyssey, the JOVM mainstays released a series of remixes of The Odyssey tracks, which they followed up with their sophomore album, 2019’s Colourwave featured a number of singles I’ve written about, including:

  • “Breath,” a sultry, dance floor friendly collaboration with Sophie Lindinger centered around glitchy beats and a sinuous yet anthemic hook
  • The Massive Attack-like “Natural Pool.”
  • “Rapture,” a collaboration with Blue Foundation‘s Kirstine Stubbe Teglbjærg centered around a trip hop-inspired production featuring shimming synth arpeggios, wobbling low end and Stubbe Teglbjærg’s sultry vocals. 
  • “Essence,” a collaboration with Sophie Barker that features Barker’s sultry vocals gliding over a shimmering production centered around looping, reverb-drenched guitar shimmering synths, skittering beats and an enormous hook that brought Third-era Portishead and Octo Octa to mind  – but a with a brooding air.

Although the duo haven’t been able to tour as a result of the pandemic, they’ve been busy: earlier this year, they released “Luz,” a one-off single with Sexto Sentido that was decided sonic departure for the duo: the single reminded me quite a bit of fellow JOVM mainstays Ibeyi. Interestingly, as the duo explained in press notes, “’Luz’ is kind of a bridge to our future album; it’s a bit different from our earlier releases.,” the Budapest-based JOVM mainstays explain. “This single is a harmonic blend of traditional Afro-Cuban folk music and modern electronica, the lyrics in yoruba and spanish. This song is a spiritual journey for us, it will be the part of Colourwave DLX album with some remixes, reimagined versions and live sessions in April.”

For Colourwave DLX‘s latest single, the Budapest-based JOVM mainstays recruited Ohxalá to remix album single “Breath” with Sophie Lindinger. Interestingly, the Ohxalá remix meshes dub and house music by retaining Lindinger’s sultry vocals paired with a chopped up hook, skittering beats and shimmering synths,. Interestingly enough, the remix gives the song a subtle yet completely different feel: in this case, the Oxhalá remix possesses a bracing chilliness that reminds me quite a bit of Octo Octa’s Between Both Selves.

“‘Breath’ was one of the first single from the album and also one of our favourites. We had some nostalgic feelings about that era, for example the day when we got the final master, that was the first time when we ever met with Sophie,” the Budapest-based JOVM mainstays recall. “Fun fact it was in Texas, where we played at SXSW. After the success of the song, we thought it would be great to have an alternative version, and asked Ohxalá to make a remix. We love their style because they blend traditional folk music with modern electronica, and they made a unique song which also has a new mood.”