UPFRONTBEATS

Luke Garcia debuts on Renaissance with an EP that has family influence at its very heart’

Luke Garcia is a man who needs little introduction. Although 2022 will see him celebrate a decade in dance, he’s one of the few artists who arguably turned the pandemic to his advantage with a discography that went into overdrive; Innervisions, Tau, Borders Of Light and Sum Over Histories were all added to the enviable CV over the past 2 years and now the peerless run continues with the ‘Ecro EP’ on Renaissance.

Yet, ironically, the pandemic nearly put a hold on this momentum as Luke candidly admits, ‘I took the whole lockdown thing very personally. I was at home with my family in Madrid feeling frustrated. I was secreting myself away in the studio, isolating on a creative and individual level, though nothing was flowing. One day, Tania, my wife came in and we talked it through; she basically picked me up and put me back together – it was like a champagne cork popping, all the built-up pressure was released and I was suddenly able to channel everything into the happy melodies and inspirational voices that became ‘Ecro’. It’s a very special, personal track, which I gratefully dedicate to her.’

With the original’s joyful, emotive breaks firmly in place, Luke and Renaissance set about looking for the right remixer, someone who could bring a different style and feel to the track and Kiberu fit the bill perfectly. A relative newcomer to the scene, he’s already caught the attention of the likes of Dixon and me with his unique sound that fuses indie dance with slight Afro accents. It’s fair to say he’s one of the most unique musical voices to emerge in recent times, which he deploys to devastating effect with the remix. ‘I was born and live in Zurich but spent a large part of my childhood in the south of Italy where there’s a passion for house. My music varies between deep, indie and melodic, but is also strongly influenced by African rhythms. You can hear it in my work I think. I do like to mix it up and was instantly able to hear how I could apply ‘Ecro’s’ beautiful sounds to my style,’ says Kiberu.

The EP rounds out with another very personal track, ‘Fiil’. ‘This was born by pure chance,’ Luke explains, ‘We have young twins at home and I’ve been teaching and playing classical piano with them for over a year. One day an idea came to me as we were sat at the piano, so we composed it all together and my children ended up the architects of this special melody. It’s why it has so much feeling, certainly to me of course, which is why I named it ‘Fiil’, the direct Spanish translation of the verb. I have to dedicate this one to Alexander and Valeria’.

Credited - For The Record