Acclaimed dance selectors Astral People Recordings are thrilled to announce their latest signing, Meanjin/Brisbane-based producer and DJ Joshua Amour, who today shares his debut single and visualiser, ‘Don’t Let Go’.
On his journey to joining the Astral People roster, Amour explains: “I’ve known Tom [Huggett] from Astral for years now. We first met when I was touring as part of Genesis Owusu while we opened for Cosmo’s Midnight. Me and Cos made some music together after that and he would show it to Tom in case he wanted to release it. Nothing happened with the stuff but we stayed friends and I’d show Tom music I’d made at different points in my life and he was always interested, giving me time of day and encouraging me to keep sending more. Now, a few years down the line and after refining my music I’m now releasing my first proper body of work on Astral People Recordings as their newest signee!”
“Josh and I have been mates for years now,” shares Astral People co-founder Tom Huggett. “He started sending demos to me around 2-3 years ago and it always felt like there was something very special in everything he was sending over. I couldn't put my finger on it, but just about every demo felt like it was coming from the heart. I don't wanna get all cheesy here but his demos have always made me feel some kind of way, and that's what good music should do.”
“After honing his craft the past few years it feels like Josh has really matured his sound and we stand behind this release feeling like it stands with the best of them on a global level. Real emotional club music with heart. We're so excited to be bringing a very dear friend over to the label and we can't wait for the world to hear these tracks we've been obsessing over the past year.''
Stuttering to life with a jittery, 2-step inflected beat, bursts of deflated synthetic horns and a shifting waterfall of chopped-and-screwed vocal samples, ‘Don’t Let Go’ is Amour’s love letter to the wistful, subdued syncopation of early 2010’s post-dubstep. Warm and organic yet processed and peculiarly moveable, run through with a drowsy-eyed romanticism, ‘Don’t Let Go’ exists in those liminal, indefinable hours where late night melts away to early morning, when the very first notes of the dawn birdsong still ring with the lingering buzz of the night before.
“‘Don’t Let Go’ has been a track I’ve been sitting on for months and months, originally part of another project but it moved enough people to keep its place in this new one,” Amour shares of his debut single. “It’s somewhat of a throw back to the Mount Kimbie and Four Tet tracks that I still love”.
Watch ‘Don’t Let Go’ visualiser here
Previously the touring DJ for his childhood friend Genesis Owusu, Joshua Amour has previously opened for the likes of KETTAMA and often performs alongside his partner dameeeela.
As he explains, Amour is inspired and driven by the sensation of “growing up and relying on the internet for most of my music. I discovered lots of different styles and sounds that captivated me, people from all over the world creating their own genres and showing me the possibilities of self-made music.” Now, the music he makes as Joshua Amour is a collation of those influences and his own interpretations of them, with the hope that it can do for others what his favourite artists did for him.
‘Don’t Let Go’ by Joshua Amour
Is out now on Astral People Recordings / [PIAS]
Listen now: https://ffm.to/joshuaamour_dontletgo
