As we’ve stated time and time again, the Australian music scene is killing it right now. One such ear-catching emergent is the ambient electronic producer Akurei who made an astonishing debut with ‘Hinterland’, racking up over 80k listens on SoundCloud and almost 419k streams on Spotify. If that isn’t international recognition, then we don’t know what is. Four months down the line and Akurei returns with another soul-warming, head-swaying, blissed-out piece of electronica. His second single is called ‘Floating’, a dextrously produced single that features the artist’s streamline vocals, as well as the guest talents of Melbourne-based rapper Nico Ghost. During Ghost’s distinctive verses, Akurei’s production also takes a darker turn, opting for sparser trap and a singular synth melody, which gives room to the hip-hop artist’s presence. For the rest of the song, the electronics possess more layers - vocal samples, steady drums, digital sweeps, melodious electronic keys and an overall dreamy atmosphere. There’s also a third collaborator on this track, Golden Vessel, as Akurei recalls: “It was really fun because we were living together and hanging out almost every day. We mainly ate a lot of hummus and watched a lot of ‘Peep Show’ but we did manage to put this track together.” However, it’s important to note that ‘Floating’ isn’t a song about hummus and TV binges (although that would amazing) - in fact, it captures the feeling of falling asleep. As the Brisbane producer once again divulges, “'Floating' is a song about trying to fall asleep after waking in the middle of the night. Lyrically, it covers a sleepless night trying to find some form of closure or clarity.” - HT