Electronic-rock duo Velocity Made Good are turning inward with ‘One Night in Between’, on of the most vulnerable and restrained releases of their career so far.
Taken from forthcoming EP Big Breakers, (due October 16th), Velocity Made Good swap the physical intensity of their normal electronic meets rock tendencies for a stripped, ambient and restrained palette on ‘One Night in Between’.
From the sprawling grit of previous singles ‘Big Breakers’ and ‘Coming Up Trees’ which are comparable to the likes of The Prodigy and Fat Dog, ‘One Night in Between’ opens by setting a contrasting ton with a wash of cinematic, melancholic ambience which gradually unfurls into a deep atmospheric swirl of subby bass, driving drums, swirling synth and recurring, glitched vocal fragments, ultimately more comparable to the likes of bonobo, early Mura Masa and Caribou. Analog warmth runs through the arrangement, giving the track an intimate, almost tactile quality compared the brute punch of other tracks.
The band explain: “For us, the challenge was to write a track that is as intense as possible and as quiet as possible, at the same time.”
‘One Night in Between’ is a melancholic response to the life and work of Bas Jan Ader, the Groningen-born performance and conceptual artist who disappeared in 1975 while attempting to cross the Atlantic alone in a small sailboat. The voyage formed the second part of Ader’s final project, In Search of the Miraculous, a triptych that was intended to connect nighttime journeys through Los Angeles and Amsterdam with his transatlantic crossing.
Ader completed the first part of the project and embarked on the Atlantic crossing, but was never seen again. The third part was consequently never completed. What happened somewhere in the middle of that journey remains unknown, leaving a permanent gap at the heart of the work.
That unresolved space is where Velocity Made Good locate ‘One Night in Between’. The connection is also deeply personal. Like Ader, the duo come from the north of the Netherlands, and the sea has played a recurring role in their creative lives. For the band, Ader’s final project represents both an extraordinary act of determination and an attempt to reach beyond what could realistically be achieved.
Offering a taste of the depth and contrast on the upcoming EP, ‘the track ‘One Night in Between’ is an exciting, beautiful example of what Velocity Made Good are capable of.
Listen below:
