Parisian house producer Darius today returns with his latest single, ‘Rise’, featuring Dutch singer-songwriter Benny Sings (Rex Orange County, Mac DeMarco, The Free Nationals). Listen HERE.
Inspired by the midtempo, filtered French Touch of Daft Punk, Cassius, Stardust and others, while also taking additional cues from funk, disco and R&B, Darius’ music avoids the central reliance on samples that characterises the work of so many other artists working within that same space. Instead, he builds his interpretation of French House around mental landscapes, full of symbolism and arrangements that move with a dreamlike logic, suffused with spacious breaks that spread out infinitely before your ears and immersive, echoing synth pads, a kind of cosmis, star-filled romanticism. A longtime stalwart of influential French label RocheMusique (FKJ, WayneSnow, Cezaire) since making his debut in 2012, the discreetly-working producer has garnered praise from The Fader, Complex, Clash, Hypebeast, Flaunt and more, amassed millions and millions of global streams and provided remixes for DuaLipa, Jessie Ware, Lianne La Havas and Flight Facilities, amongst others.
Following the Duñe-featuring ‘Feels Right’, ‘Rise (feat. Benny Sings)’ is the French producer’s second single of 2021. With its crisp percussion, sun-kissed, slow-simmering groove, Benny Sings’ creamy vocal contributions and licks of cosmic guitars swirling around amidst constantly evolving layers of textural filters, listening to ‘Rise’ feels as though you’re placidly floating above everything and everyone else, outside of time and space, like the coolest Parisian club night set on the International Space Station. Marrying a futuristic aesthetic with retro creative practices, the slight, tangible grain of ‘Rise’ evokes a warm, invitingly imperfect feel, a counterweight to the elegance and sophistication of Darius’ composition and production.
‘Rise (feat. Benny Sings)’ by Darius is out now, buy/stream it here.