It has been a busy autumn for Athens of the North’s ‘house band’ East Coast Love Affair (Euan Fryer and Nick Moore).
First came October’s I’m So Glad, a sweaty peak time party 12” for the start of the winter nightclub season, followed swiftly with I Can’t Wait – a deep disco cut featuring sultry vocals from singer / songwriter Philomenah.
Completing the serotinal trilogy, is ‘Tonight’ featuring Theo Suess, available on 7” vinyl and digital, from 8th December. ‘Tonight’ is a track that grabs you from the first arpeggiated beat. A bouncy tropical bassline, synth chords with a dreamy reverse and Theo Suess’s falsetto harmonies soaring above, luring you in, preparing your ears for the vocal delivery. And these are lyrics worth listening to. It’s getting dark and I’m sitting here with my thoughts / When you talk, I will listen, when you walk, your body glistens in the pale moonlight / And everything feels right / ‘Tonight’.
The B-side is a delicious dub, drums and bass turned up with snippets of Theo’s vocals echoing across an enveloping, loved-up instrumental backing track.
Euan Fryer explains: “We love to just try things at Athens of the North and when Clara and Theo (our lovely PR friends) were chilling with us at Pikes one evening it came up in conversation that Theo has a superb singing voice and fancied having a spin in the studio. Back in Edinburgh a month later, we threw ourselves into a couple of days of experimenting. We were all super pleased with that came out of the session, Theo’s floaty falsetto smashing out the park.”
Theo Suess adds: “In the studio, Euan, Nick and I hit the ground running with immediate rapport. Upon hearing Nick’s instrumental demo of
Tonight, I closed my eyes and imagined being in a beach bar, alone, just after dusk and being joined by someone special. The lyrics flowed out intuitively. What you hear is what was written on that first piece of paper. I recorded vocal takes in bass, tenor and falsetto and all three of us agreed the falsetto really worked with Tonight.”
Juno Records had this to say about Tonight: “It’s genuinely brilliant, with effortlessly soulful vocalist Theo Suess providing an immaculately emotive lead vocal on the A-side main mix.”
With Early DJ support from Erol Alkan, Danny Tenaglia, Danielle Moore (Crazy P), Matisa, Theo Kottis, Jordan Nocturne, Harri (Sub Club), Optimo, Bill Brewster and Nathan Detroit, amongst others, ‘Tonight’ will warm you through the cold winter, helping get you ready for East Coast Love Affair’s hotly anticipated 2024 album. Stay tuned!