LISTEN: Tornado Wallace Reworks Damian Lazarus
TORNADO WALLACE TAMES NEW SINGLE FROM THE CROSSTOWN REBELS BOSS …
📸 of Damian Lazarus by Alessandro Cinque
Melburnians can’t seem to agree on whether we should wear a mask or not, but one thing we can all agree on is we love Tornado Wallace. And his latest remix for Damian Lazarus won’t do that reputation any harm.
But let’s take a quick detour. Lazarus recently announced the release of his second album Flourish, his first album under his name in ten years. And as he confirms, it’s a release partly inspired by the pandemic:“My early ideas about a new album were quite dark, pessimistic even, I had long been thinking and worrying about the problems of the world. Then the global pandemic and subsequent lockdown began, and my fears seemed to become a reality.” It all sounds very uplifting - however, your sarcasm might be too soon. During the early days of the pandemic, Lazarus experienced a catharsis of sorts which made the project morph into something else.‘The new songs came together quite quickly, with renewed impetus, and mutated into a more positive outlook. Questions about faith, religion and spirituality all appeared amidst the darkness and fear, but in those times of quiet solitude and creation, I came to realise we can emerge into the sun and flourish on the other side.’
The results look promising, and first single, ‘Mountain’ is an eloquent broken beat with Lazarus doing a stream of consciousness vocal over the top. It’s comforting in a way that you expect to be offered a cup of tea every time you visit your nan’s. Tornado Wallace, however, remix the broken beat element and fixes it into stable and digestible 4/4 house with discreet touches of 90’s dance alongside his whizz-kid studio flourishes. Just put it on and forget about everything.