Musical duos are rare these days, it’s either bands or solo artists. Luckily for you, we’ve discovered a duo you don’t want to miss out on: Let me introduce Open Rim, aka Noah and Christian, and their newest EP Follow Me. Their indie electronic record consists of five tracks, making sure there’s a tune for everyone as Open Rim have picked different singers for each song.
The title song ‘Follow Me’ definitely brings the catchy beats that leads the audience’s imagination to a warm summer evening. The Lo-Fi electronic beats are accompanied by the voice of singer LU, who’s soft French words add to the melody, barely above a whisper. The mixture of LU’s soft spoken voice paired with the electronic beats sets the scene for a perfect summer evening in a beach club or at the waterfront with a cool drink in hand, watching the sunset, simply following the movements of one’s own body to the chilled rhythm of the song.
For track no.2 titled ‘Better with You’, Open Rim have chosen Simon Vior to give their beats a voice. The singer is telling a story about a person he’s infatuated with, someone with “eyes like the ocean blue” and blonde hair. Looking at this person in the morning light “is like heaven for the first time” and simply, “life is better with you”. Unlike the first track, ‘Better with You’ is paying more attention to the electronic music and its beats, there are a few instrumental breaks in between to give the listener a feeling for the magic electronic music can be. ‘Better with You’ has everything a good electronic song needs: There’s echoes fading out, instrumental breaks and catchy lyrics that easily get stuck in one’s head. The beats are faster and louder, to be played at a club or on an open-air stage at a festival in front of a crowd that wants to be put in a trance played by the artists in front of them. But be aware: Open Rim do not want to be seen as a DJ act, their music is handmade rather than played on an USB stick.
‘Jolly’ is the third song on the EP, for which the duo got German singer Atem Morfaw to provide the lyrics. For this one, Open Rim go back to more chilled beats whilst Atem sings about “loving life” and how he could dance all day. The track sounds and feels like a lazy day, a soft breeze, kind of a mixture between the first two songs of the EP. It instantly puts one into a good mood, lighting up a spark in the room. There’s not much to say about ‘Jolly’, simply lean back and enjoy the relaxation that is going to take over your body as soon as you hit play.
For ‘Keep on Running’ they returned to work with Simon Vior once again. There isn’t any slow or light introduction into the song, it dives right in with Vior’s voice. This time, the track seems to focus on the lyrics rather than on the electronic beats that of course aren’t missing on the song. Instead, it rather feels like ‘Better with You’ was supposed to be a light introduction to the collaborations between Open Rim and Vior before they had the confidence to bring the joined work together with a bang on ‘Keep on Running’. This was made to be played through the big speakers.
The EP finishes with ‘Into Your Eyes’, a piece that was crafted together with singer Laura Ferreira. It’s a soft lullaby that closes Follow Me in just the right way – or that’s what you may think at first. The lyrics are vulnerable and earnest and so different from the other songs on the record, with lines like “I saw his mother die/ dying next to him”. Open Rim are paying their respect to the vulnerability of the lyrics by tuning the beats down a notch: The instrumentals are soft and faintly heard in the background, a piano is being played. Unlike most electronic songs, echoes or a beat drop are missing – but only for the first two minutes of the song. Soon after there’s a stark beat cutting in, the singing stops and is being replaced by a dark, vibrant beat. Hello again, instrumental break! Where there was the soft and sad voice of Laura Ferreira singing about earth-shattering sadness before, there can now be heard what seems to be children cheering and screaming happily before the sound abruptly cuts off, to end the EP.
With Follow Me, Open Rim have managed to capture and show off the wide range of the electronic genre. Influences like Fred again.. or The Chainsmokers can be heard on the record, yet Noah and Christian have found a way to bring their own unique sound to it. As the two like to say: “We have a mission: to make electronic music a live experience. We fuse dance with indie in the studio and bring this combination to the stage – with a live show that is made by hand and doesn’t just run through a player.” And maybe one day, listeners all around the world will be able to experience this.
Written by: Svenja Nowak
Edited by: Laura Finkler
