BLUE HAWAII is the project of Raphaelle “Ra” Standell-Preston (also known and loved by us here at Backseat Mafia as the singer with Braids) and Alex “Agor” Kerby, one based in Montreal, the other in Berlin. Distance is no barrier to their creative spark; they’ve been releasing albums well worthy of your ears since the spectral electronic pop of Blooming Summer back in 2010. Check out the loveliness of “Katie” from those early days, here.
Of more recent times they’ve moved away from the ethereality of those founding styles in a warm-hearted embrace of the dancefloor, following fully in that cool tempo, intelligent vein of “Missing”-era Everything But The Girl; music you can throw shapes to, grin to, romance to. 2017’s Tenderness was packed with deep house grooves and sophistication, thrown into luxury on the back of Raphaelle’s vocal reach; as was last year’s ORiF.
They’ve announced a new mixtape, entitled Under 1 House, for which they’re leading out with the open, organ-vamping groove of “Feelin’” – watch out, Moloko. It’s a statement of intent as well as being the mixtape’s lead track; watch as your wrists, shoulders and hips give way to that swing.
They say: “We jammed out the song following a series of shows in North America and Europe, where the crowd would respond best to no-frills, fun and straightforward grooves with a nice loud vocal on top.
“The song mimics the feeling of those concerts and contains a classic touch of house music with the added flair of live saxophone and loose drum programming.”
Under 1 House will be out in the world come the 25th of this month on digital and cassette formats; the six-tracker is up for pre-order now over at Blue Hawaii’s Bandcamp.
