Flume And London Grammar May Have Just Dropped The Sad Banger Of The Year
Better than 'Never Be Like You'?
Flume, AKA Harley Streten, is having a busy 2019.
After spending at least two years touring his widely acclaimed second record, Skin, an album that basically changed the sound of modern techno and dance, Flume has shifted into a new gear over the last six months. First, he dropped a mysterious livestream, a taste of a new mixtape. Then, within 24 short hours, he dropped the tape itself — a collection of 17 songs titled Hi This Is Flume that pushed his music into new and unusual directions, and ended up charting (because of course it did).
Oh, and that’s not even to mention his magnum opus, his bizarre and handsome Instagram, which he has maintained with the care and unity of vision that most performers reserve solely for their music.
Anyway, not to be slowed, Flume has today dropped a brand new track, ‘Let You Know’, written with and featuring fellow purveyors of happy-sad techno, London Grammar.
According to Streten, he and Hannah Reid of that band have wanted to work together for literal years, but the pieces of the puzzle only fell into place in 2018 during a brief sojourn to the United Kingdom.
“Had been wanting to make something with Hannah for a long time and this one just came together really naturally in the studio that day,” Streten explained to NME about the track.
Diehard fans of Flume shouldn’t worry that the collaboration means that the man’s sound has strayed too much from its usual timbre, though — like all great tracks from Streten, ‘Let You Know’ is melodic and subtle. But, underneath it all, it disguises a real amount of bite; a hidden kick in that chorus, which drips with genuine melancholy.
It’s perfect Flume, basically. Here’s to hoping that 2019 sees a lot more songs like it coming our way. And soonish, preferably.
Listen to ‘Let Me Know’ below: