Seattle trio Surrealized have been at it for over a decade now, mining a fertile combination of the synthetic and the organic with their sound. And judging from the grooves housed on their new album Density, they’re hitting the dance floor harder and hookier than ever before.
“Animal,” the first track from Density, dropped in November, and it came on like an addictive club jam from the greatest ‘80s synth-pop band you never heard. So we’re delighted to premiere the latest Surrealized single, “Feelings Part 2,” here at Artist Home. This brand-new cut finds them exploring a glitchier, more up-to-the-minute assemblage of beats, with hooks and soulfulness still embedded sweetly in the mix. The accompanying video’s a dynamic spiritual companion to the song, too.
Surrealized’s previous releases (their 2010 EP and a 2015 full-length, both self-titled) wore the band’s passion for guitar-tinged, electronically percussive English dance music on their proverbial black T-shirted sleeves. But somewhere amidst that 2015 long-player, singer/multi-instrumentalist Kimo Muraki began broadening his already strong, Bowie-inspired crooning with a blue-eyed soul falsetto.
“Feelings Part 2” picks up the electro-soul and runs—or more accurately, skitters, shuffles, and grinds—with it. Markus Von Prause and Robert Sydow serve up an ever-shifting and very textural electronic backbeat, while Muraki’s singing finds the still-vital spirits of Prince and Daryl Hall coursing through the machinery. With the support of his band and the community, Sydow’s forged on through some serious health setbacks in recent years, which goes a long way towards explaining the life coursing through the lyrics of “Feelings Part 2.” The words radiate equal parts sensuality (“Make your call to fall in love/I won’t play this game alone”) and exultance (“Take your chance to come alive/A feeling you can call your own”)—and when Muraki’s thrilling voice soars above the swelling synths in the chorus, it’s a fool’s errand to try to resist.
Surrealized is releasing the remainder of Density in pieces, with the other tracks coming out in early 2022. And without going into the music-geek equivalent of spoilers, suffice it to say the release marks the band’s most seamless combination of club-ready singles and atmospheric dance tracks yet. Electronic music doesn’t get much tastier than this.
