Two bars of repeated piano? The impeccable Dragonette? Inferences of Earth, Wind & Fire? It's almost as if Philip George knows the formula to a summer smash.
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With the BRIT Awards taking place on Wednesday and Philip George’s bedroom-produced debut ‘Wish You Were Mine’ up for the British Single award, his third shot up at the top of the charts has prematurely beckoned the season of commercially-oriented house releases. Alongside veteran Canadian electropop ensemble Dragonette, the light nineties vibe of ‘Feel This Way’ easily crafts his most enjoyable release yet.
Contrary to his sample-fuelled prior discography, ‘Feel This Way’ uses its own original two bars of perpetually unchanging keyboarding as foundation beneath a steady glaze of vocal reverberations and subtle rhythmic shifts akin to Diplo and Sleepy Tom’s superb ‘Be Right There.’ Yes, the nostalgic house angle is currently favoured by nearly every producer and their dog, and the lack of a discernibly-structured verse takes a while to adapt to, but the package doesn’t end there.
Last time we heard Dragonette’s Martina Sorbara was distorted beyond belief on the Galantis hit ‘Peanut Butter Jelly,’ and her voice has an exemplary tendency to transform enjoyable work from the likes of Martin Solveig and Mike Mago into genuine pop events. Here, it’s the “ba da ya” melodic snippet from ‘September’ fluttering in the mix towards the finale. Touching on the glory days of rave is one thing, but bringing Earth, Wind & Fire into a likely song of the summer? “You’re the only one that makes me feel this way,” she cries in refrain, and to her I must echo the sentiment.
‘Feel This Way’ is out now via 3 Beat.
