Felid – Knowing You, Part Two – Track by Track

Bristol-based artist and producer Felid unveils new EP Knowing You, Part Two & pens an exclusive track-by-track for 1883 Magazine.

Since the release of his debut single at the tail-end of last year, multitalented artist Felid has been moving throughout the alt-pop genre with equal parts ease and enthusiasm, quickly garnering support with a feverish online community of listeners who were first captivated by his two-part EP series titled Knowing You. Recently Felid released the other half to the EP — Knowing You, Part Two — merging the two vastly different sonics of each part and juxtaposing their sounds with his introspective lyrics.

Speaking on the EP as a whole, Felid states, “This whole EP was always meant to be the softer, more orchestral counterpart to the electronic edge of Knowing You, Part One. I loved creating these tracks – they all mean so much to me – and I’m really proud of how they’ve turned out. Hopefully they make someone else’s day a little better or at least easier to handle too!”

Check out Felid’s track-by-track for his new EP, Knowing You, Part Two.

 

Possibilities

“As with most the tracks in this EP, this one one started with the electric piano chord progression. I quite liked the slight discomfort that the second chord brings, and I think that formed a basis for the whole idea behind the song – having made certain choices in order to chase our dreams and passions. There’s a beautiful bitter-sweetness to that pursuit and I tried to emulate that with the rest of the music. The glitched sample at the beginning and throughout the track is actually my own vocals with various effects and processing. I just really like notion of having something organic with the digital glitching to kind of force it into place? But of course, there’s also the cello parts that I’m still so in love with. I programmed them in using EastWest’s incredible virtual cello instruments, but lucked out when Drew Morgan agreed to play them in (as well as all the other cello parts on this EP). The final mix is a subtle balance between the two.

Then, I actually had the full track ready for release, but I heard Slowe’s voice on her own tracks ‘W.Y.L.T.K.’ and ‘Lunar’, and I knew she would fit the vibe perfectly. She was really easy to work with and the whole collaboration with having her on the second verse just kind of fell into place. This is also the only track on the EP mixed by somebody else. I finally found someone who balanced my own shortcomings when mixing my own stuff perfectly, so I’m excited to do some more collaborative work in the near future!”

 

To Forgive

“Technically, I wrote this song almost 10 years ago. It was released under the name ‘Typewriter’ through a previous alias, and at the time was my favourite piece I’d released. But, as time went on and my own style/taste/ability progressed, I got a little obsessed with reusing the ideas in this track and giving it a new flavour. It was always quite personal but it was only after finished the final lyrics for this version that I realised why – it’s a kind of letter to someone that I never got to tell these things to.

Musically, I ‘swung’ the whole thing and had a lot of fun messing with the new textures and synth layers throughout the track – (I don’t think I’d even met Serum when I made the first version) and bringing ‘Felid’s sound into the mix. That piano motif is still there, but less prevalently and with a bigger focus on allowing the dynamics of the other instruments and vocals to play their own part. I’m really excited to perform this one live with a few other people involved – it’s definitely going to mean a lot to me!”

 

Invincible

“This track was definitely something I kind of ‘found’ as I was creating it. Sometimes I have a general sense of where the song is going before I sit down to make it, but with this one all I had was those first synth ‘drops’ I had created, and that I wanted strings in there somewhere. It’s also a different one because I think I wrote the lyrics as I was creating the track, which usually happens well after the structure is done. So that did a great job of feeding something different (e.g. the piano mid-section, leading into the lo-fi house build, etc) than what I usually go for.

At the time, my partner and I had just gone long-distance and I was feeling that loss of time together. It was definitely a love-letter to them, as well as something for me to focus on so that I didn’t let myself get too down. Once again, Drew Morgan brought his magic on the cello parts and the rest of it was just a case of trying to balance the subtlety of the lyrical context with the musical dynamics and the introduction of the percussive elements. I think I learned the most from this track because it was such a different way of working for me. Definitely want to explore this freedom a little more moving forward, and not stick myself into such tight boxes structurally.”

 

How To Fly

“I can’t say too much about this track – it’s one of those ones that fell together. Again, I knew I wanted it a little slower and with some heavy orchestral/film score-like elements, and that I wanted it in a major key (something that’s somewhat rare in my music usually!). But more than anything I just wanted to create something beautiful, that someone could listen to when they were feeling at peace, or in love, or like they didn’t need to be anywhere else.

The production on both the musical/percussive elements as well as the vocals was deliberately softer and less obtrusive than the other tracks so that it could just sit in the background and not try to grab too much attention. Some of my favourite tracks are ones that I only realised years later were really subtly complex without showing it off. I think there’s a real nuance to this that I’d love to try and grab onto and run with. The meaning of the lyrics of this one is a little less obvious than the others, but the notion is of someone else pushing me to make myself better by simply being amazing themselves. I’m pretty fortunate to have some incredible people like this in my life!”

Felid’s new EP Knowing You, Part Two is out now.

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