In his latest track, longlost moves his artistic intricacies from behind the DJ booth towards the mic.
While many individuals throughout the underground have successfully transitioned from being beatmakers to full-on artists, 20-year-old Atlanta-based musician longlost has never been just a beatmaker. Creating ravishingly enormous instrumentals has been the focus of his catalog, earning him critical acclaim across the scene. Garnering thousands of plays across YouTube and SoundCloud has come easily for the ominous producer, but he has set his sights on new targets for his latest release. New track “red and never blue,” produced by Eris, introduces longlost listeners to his own voice apart from his gorgeously-conceived anthems, demonstrating his own artistic intricacy once more.
Through the song, thundering 808s bounce along an arpeggiated synth pattern. longlost quickly drops in with bombastically bold lyrics, declaring his life a gleaming paper chase:
Counting all this money // Gotta get them bands up // Running this dash on top // All flexed up
“I’ve been thinking about doing vocals for a minute but what inspired me or moved me to do vocals was listening to Eris‘s beats,” longlost notes when discussing his intention to move into rapping. “I heard the beat and it wrote itself. I will say the first set of vocals I ever did were on an instrumental made by both Eris and I.”
The song is a huge departure from the most popular longlost tracks, such as the cinematically structured “i wouldn’t mind dying with you” or the chillingly smooth “lullabies.” longlost stresses, however, that his instrumentals will always keep evolving, and that his more calming productions will be intertwined with his own vocal performances from now on.
With the help of Eris, longlost’s vocals genuinely shine through the engaging uptempo beat in a well-executed fashion. longlost seemingly cannot be stopped as he casually flows over the eerily bouncy beat as if he has made countless vocal records before. “Not only is [Eris] my best friend, he’s also a fucking genius,” longlost explains. “I have a standard for what I’m willing to work with and he more than passes that standard so I see no other reason to use any other beats produced by anybody else.”
“I think showcasing my vocals as well as my production alongside other artists on one tape is the best way to present my art to the world,” longlost declares while discussing his upcoming project. While he wants to assure longtime fans that he won’t switch over to becoming a fulltime vocalist anytime soon (unless he “signs some fucked up contract”), he does plan on releasing a new project alongside more vocal tracks. The project will ultimately feature some artists yet to be determined but will focus on self-produced instrumentals and vocal performances by longlost himself. “All I can say is soon,” he says when questioned about the project’s timeframe. “I tend to always post a snippet of something when I make [songs] along with extra information.”