Tag: Mat Zo Damage Control

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Rachel K. Collier is a Swansea, Wales, UK-born, London-based singer/songwriter, producer and electronic music artist, who achieved both commercial and critical success across the UK relatively early in her career; in fact, Collier is credited as a co-writer or producer or several chart-topping, smash hits including Ray Foxx‘s “Boom Boom (Heartbeat),” which peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles chart back in 2013; Mat Zo‘s Grammy-nominated album Damage Control, which peaked at number 1 on the iTunes Dance Album charts; and on pioneering garage producer Wookie‘s comeback single “2 Us.” As a solo artist, she recorded a cover of Jimmy Cliff’s “Hard Road to Travel,” which landed at number 79 on the UK Singles chart, and her debut original single “Predictions” was named Sarah Jane Crawford’s “Smash of the Week” on the radio personality’s BBC Radio 1Xtra show. Collier has also received airplay and praise from the likes of Annie Nightingale, Capitol Xtra, Tiësto and Oliver Heldens, which has added to the growing buzz surrounding her in electronic music circles.

Building upon a growing national profile, Collier released her self-produced, debut EP Words You Never Heard through Love and Other Records in late 2015 and followed that up with “Ships,” a single she released during the last few months of 2016. Now, as you may recall, last year I wrote about Collier’s “Paper Tiger,” a slick yet un-fussy club banger, which she followed up with extensive touring playing sets at clubs and festivals across the European Union and unsurprisingly, with the release of her latest single “Darkshade,” her experiences touring throughout 2017 have influenced her creative process and her sound, as the new single finds Collier pairing what arguably may be the most emotionally direct lyrics she’s written with a sound that manages to be simultaneously radio and club friendly — all while further cementing her reputation for crafting rousingly anthemic hook.

“I’ve been heavily inspired from playing live at clubs and festivals throughout 2017 -playing my synths on stage at full volume is so satisfying and fulfilling that I’ve been incorporating synth solos and counter melodies way more into my actual production rather than just doing it on stage for fun!” Collier explains in press notes. “Darkshade feels like a song I needed to get off my chest — many of us will go through life hiding, disguising or playing down a physical/emotional element that we have but we don’t like. This song is about that and how I deal with it.”

This year may be a breakthrough year for the Swansea-born, London-based singer/songwriter, producer and electronic music artist as her full-length debut is slated for a September release.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Rachel K. Collier Performs New Single “Paper Tiger”

With today being International Women’s Day, I felt it was appropriate and necessary to spend some portion of the day both here and on Twitter honoring the female artists, musicians and producers I’ve written about throughout the site’s history and to writing about new (and sometimes, firmly established) female artists, producers throughout the day as much as humanly possible.

Rachel K. Collier is a accomplished Swansea, Wales, UK-born, London-based singer/songwriter and producer, who has quickly achieved both commercial and critical success across the UK. Collier is credited as a co-writer or producer or several chart-topping, smash hits including Ray Foxx’s “Boom Boom (Heartbeat),” which peaked at nubmer 12 on the UK Singles chart back in 2013; Mat Zo’s Grammy-nomiated album Damage Control, which peaked at number 1 on the iTunes Dance Album charts; and on legendary garage producer Wookie’s comeback single “2 Us.” As a solo artist, she recorded a cover of Jimmy Cliff’s “Hard Road to Travel,” which landed at number 79 on the UK Singles chart, and her debut original single “Predictions” was named Sarah Jane Crawford’s “Smash of the Week” on the radio personality’s BBC Radio 1Xtra show. Collier has also received airplay and praise from the likes of Annie Nightingale, Capitol Xtra, Tiësto and Oliver Heldons.

Building upon a growing national profile, Collier released her self-produced, debut EP Words You Never Heard through Love and Other records in late 2015 and followed that up with “Ships,” a single she released during the last few months of 2016. “Paper Tiger,” Collier’s first single of 2017 and the single features a slick yet unfussy, dance floor-friendly production consisting of wobbling low end, twinkling synths and stuttering drum programming, enormous tweeter and woofer rocking beats, and a chopped up vocal sample paired with a rousingly anthemic hook; but interestingly, Collier’s production manages to be roomy enough for her swaggering, cocky vocals.