The Welsh producer is back with new music and a video.
Koreless has returned after a five-year hiatus. The producer has today (13 May) released his new solo single Black Rainbow across digital streaming platforms. It follows a limited vinyl drop last week, with the 10″ version also housing new B-side cut Moonlight. Koreless is releasing the single via Young (formerly known as Young Turks). He signed to the imprint back in 2013.
“Black Rainbow has had a bit of a ride to get here,” Koreless tells Crack exclusively over email. “The riff started as a post-Sun experiment into propulsive synth-based stuff in 2014-2015. I wanted things I could use in a live setting that could be elevating and physical. It tried on many hats: hard, soft, fast, slow. [It was] shelved for long periods, dusted off, rekindled, re-shelved, loved, hated. [It] ultimately ending up pretty close to where it started, but it picked up a few magic beans along the way.” Stream both tracks below.
Koreless has also released a new Black Rainbow music video. The curious visual is said to inspired by 70s coming-of-age drama Penda Fen, slow-motion bullet time videos of the annual Gloucester Cheese Rolling Competition and “soft orthopaedic foam”. The video was directed by Koreless and Alex Turvey, and shot in a Welsh ravine during lockdown last year. The video stars his younger brother Iwan.
Black Rainbow marks Koreless’ first solo release since 2015’s TT / Love 12”. Of late, Koreless – real name Lewis Roberts – has been in a more collaborative headspace. He worked with FKA twigs on her 2019 album MAGDALENE, for example. He also has production credits on Rita Ora and M. T Hadley projects. More recently, he reworked tracks from Caribou and Perfume Genius. In a statement, the label hints that we can expect more from him soon.
Speaking on his return, Koreless tells Crack, “I feel a kind of sadness around releasing music; the making process is very private, joyous and frustrating. A song follows its own timeline into the world, and its life before it gets exported as a .wav can be so rich and varied. All that gets forgotten once it’s out in the world.”
He continues, “At the same time, though, it’s freeing to set something in stone. I get physically sick with nerves before live shows, then as soon as you’re up they just disappear. It feels like that x1000.”
Black Rainbow is out now. Purchase the single here and watch the new video below.