They Kiss & Julian Lennon OUT NOW
The dynamic, Los Angeles-based pop duo They Kiss – Anna Makovchik and Francesco Civetta (aka Cash) – are thrilled to share their latest single, “Lookin’ 4 Love,” from their upcoming album Feeling With You, due August 26 via CASH NYC Records. The album’s closing bonus track is a reimagining of the Julian Lennon single of the same name, featuring vocals from Julian, plus additional, new lyrics and vocals from New York, queer-scene maverick Sandflower. The band celebrates tonight in W. Hollywood at Hotel Cafe (10pm), and will perform August 10 at Harvard & Stone. More information here.
While visiting his friend Julian in the south of France several years ago, Cash told him he really felt connected to his track “Lookin’ 4 Luv” from his 2011 release Everything Changes and wanted to rework it for a new generation.
Back in New York, Cash teamed up with producer David Sisko and Sandflower and began working on creating a new song using Julian’s chorus hook and sampling his piano riff. They recorded new verses and built a new song around those samples, and thus They Kiss’ “Lookin’ 4 Love” was born.
When Makovchik heard the song, she fell in love with the track and its emotional message: that everyone is looking for love, and even if sometimes we are looking in the wrong places, there is always hope, so never lose faith in love.
A political refugee and classically trained multi-instrumentalist and a film school grad plus globetrotting DJ, They Kiss boast fascinating backstories. Together they have created an infectious blend of pop music, already praised by the LA Weekly and Under the Radar, and featured in the 2021 Lionsgate film, The Gateway.
Feeling With You was co-produced with GRAMMY-winning Kanye cohort Mikalai Skrobat, and mixed across three continents by Ben Rosen (Australia), Lesny (Russia) and Cash. The album explores love and life through pop-savvy electronica, cinematic sensibilities, skewed through a singularly transatlantic prism.
“We didn’t try to sound like someone else. I guess that’s why it was all so easy,” mulled Anna, whose previous San Francisco-based Belarusian band Kiwi Time was known for its stand on human and LGBTQ+ rights. “We decided, let’s express ourselves and just who we are.”
They Kiss had already written several songs for The Gateway prior to lockdown, but when COVID hit the duo holed up in a New York townhouse where they cobbled together a makeshift studio. From this unintended hermitude emerged, arresting singles “This Love is Real” and “I Gave it All,” both of which are featured on the record.
Once back in LA the duo’s expanding collection of co-writes organically became an album, including contributions from Arthur Delaney and Dom Goldsmith (Hælos), Alexander Dexter-Jones, drummer Alex Carapetis (The Voidz), and Anna’s Belarusian compatriots Yoga Shyp (ex-Kiwi Time, guitar) and Skrobat.
Feeling With You melds hugely evocative synthy nostalgia – Human League, OMD, Giorgio Moroder – to Anna’s glacial vocals and Cash’s nuanced production steeped in NYC’s 2000s rock & roll revival. Mixed in Australia, mastered in Russia, and tinted with UK big beat and trip-hop, the album’s seamless global mélange is a timely trademark.
“My Belarusian vibe with my Belarusian musicians that I bring in, trust me, no one can even get close!” Anna laughed. “Because it’s got its own thing.”
The album’s title track is a late-night, neon-smeared slab of throbbing urban debauchery punctuated with playful horns and strings. Throughout the album, Skrobat’s vivacious touch lends a vivid, ultra-contemporary sheen.
“I want people to have a sense of joy, a sense of freedom when they listen,” said Anna. “Freedom to express what they feel without feeling like being in a box or worrying about what’s popular. Put aside all of these thoughts and just dance!”
 | Feeling With You Tracklist: 01. Intro 02. Kisses 03. Feeling With You 04. Radio 05. In Dreams 06. I Gave it All 07. This Love is Real 08. Roll The Dice 09. Naked 10. Cosmic Kiss 11. They Kiss & Julian Lennon – Lookin’ 4 Love feat. Sandflower (Bonus Track) |