So if you had been frequenting this site earlier this year, you would have come across two posts featuring DGTL CTL, a rather mysterious electro pop production and artist duo, whose overall sound draws from several different styles and subgenres of pop and electro pop; however, beneath the accessible, pop orientated leanings is an underlying tendency towards the avant-garde and artsy. And for their unique ability to do craft weird yet accessible pop, the duo have begun to receive attention across the blogosphere; in fact, their EP’s first single “Elephant” featured a chilly, ambient and minimalist production consisting of distorted and shuffling beats and gently swirling and undulating synths and achingly tender vocals with an infectious hook. And while simultaneously nodding at Quiet Storm-era R&B, industrial electronica and contemporary electro pop, the song’s narrator describes shyly yet completely falling for someone, that they’re left dumbstruck; he knows the depth and timbre of his feelings and yet can’t figure out a way to express it. The words he puts on paper, just doesn’t seem to quite add up to the longing and desire he feels so deeply, so urgently. He’s left with the proverbially clichéd elephant in the room.
Recently, I received an email from Ryan Claus, a San Francisco, CA-based designer, composer, producer and electronic music artist, who writes and performs under the moniker Little Glass Men, a side project of his. Describing his sound as a mix of contemporary electronic music production with live instrumentation, along the lines of Mt. Kimbie, Bonobo and Flying Lotus, Claus collaborated with DGTL CTL’s Devereaux Jennings to remix “Elephants,” and as Claus explained to me via email they did some higher register takes for the chorus — and while retaining Jennings’ tender and aching vocals, Claus pairs them with dreamily twinkling keys, shimmering synths, and stuttering drum programming. As a result, it gives the song a vulnerable, awkward, swooning vibe.