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Oliver Tank & Rainbow Chan ‘Northern Lights EP’

27 February 2012 | 3:00 pm | Staff Writer

A little while ago, FBi sent two Aussie solo artists off to Iceland. They made some music, came back & gave birth to the Northern Lights EP.

Northern Lights EP

A little while ago, FBi Radio sent two Aussie solo artists off to Iceland to meet and collaborate with some international musicians. They made some beautiful music, came back- and have given birth to the Northern Lights EP.

Musical collaboration can be a tricky process, whether it be something as oddball as Skrillex teaming up with The Doors (oh you better believe it), or as fitting as OLIVER TANK’s collaboration with fellow Sydney-based artist RAINBOW CHAN. Artistic differences can take hold - and nobody enjoys the calming sounds of chillwave when it is produced in an environment full of tension and musical sacrifice.

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The first track on the EP sees the aussies team up with Icelandic bedroom-pop producer Just Another Snake Cult to create a jangly-yet-mellow tune ‘To Love Again’ recorded in Snake Cult's apartment. Then the next 3 tracks are each of the different artist’s own remixes. RAINBOW CHAN’s arrangement is a quasi-future-beat take on the song, while OLIVER TANK focuses on bringing through the romantic feel he is known for with soothing pad sounds and deep downtempo rhythms.

The next of the two main tracks is ‘Golden’, which this time features Pétur Ben as the Icelandic collaborator. Somewhat more accessible, Ben’s progressive folk-rock influence is prevalent throughout, and gels beautifully with the vocals of all three artists. Once again each artist is then given their own remix, Chan taking a more experimental electronica approach, with Tank again slowing the pace down to give it a more melancholic-yet-hopefully romantic sound.

Despite the differences in musical styling between the tracks and their respective creators, there’s one quality that all of the tracks have in common; a sort of heartfelt warmth and tender love that can only come through artists who love coming together and creating music, and that is in the end- what this EP is all about. Don’t expect an upbeat pop record, but more an experimental exploration of styles and sounds that these highly unique-yet artistically similar people bring to their music.

Words by Fuck the Radio.