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Maria Chiara Argirò is releasing a deluxe version of her acclaimed concept album Forest City, which includes brand new track "Unreal."
Something of a palette cleanser ahead of Maria's new album - which she is laying finishing touches to now - Unreal is a reworking of a track that found its way into Maria's live set whilst supporting Emma-Jean Thackray last year. It quickly became a crowd favourite and was recorded in the summer of 2022, beautifully merging hypnotic beats with swelling synths and a soaring brass section.
On the track, Maria offers: ‘This song is inspired by a tune I wrote a few years back. I explored the concept of real and unreal, blending and pushing both organic and electronic sounds. I wanted to create a steady rhythm blurred together with looped vocals and a synthy dreamlike soundscape.’
"Unreal" arrives alongside a mesmerising video, with AI generated visuals synchronising the timing and intensity of the noise in the animation to the rhythm and dynamics of the music using over 15,000 different images. Directed by Edoardo Ottone.
Forest City has graced Italian end of year polls, with radio support from BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio 1, KCRW, KEXP, RAI 2, FiP, and has been featured in Vogue, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Fader and Pitchfork. With fans like Four-Tet, as well as album track Greenarp being featured on Netflix series Elite, Maria had an amazing 2022 and there is only more to come this year. She will be supporting Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith at Kings Place in April, and playing The Great Escape in May. Earlier this year, Forest City remixes dropped from Byron The Aquarius, Salami Rose Joe Louis and Terracassette.
Vocalist and jazz trained pianist Maria Chiara Argirò broke onto the electronic scene last year with her breathtaking, jazz infused album Forest City which earned high acclaim from Pitchfork, BBC, The Fader and garnered comparisons to the likes of Thom Yorke and Kelly Lee Owens. On Forest City, Argirò liberated herself from the structures of jazz while exploring the “duality of nature and city”, where organic sounds and textures seem to flow above the urban sprawl.
Argirò releases a remix package of Forest City singles “Clouds”, “Greenarp” and “Blossom”. For “Clouds” Argirò taps Atlanta's electronic funk wizard Byron the Aquarius. Her ethereal vocal track is given the dancefloor treatment as Byron's influences of classic Chicago and Detroit House are showcased on this midtempo groover.
For “Greenarp”, Terracassette gives a beat driven broadcast with the cosmic purpose of unifying dancefloors. The remix is a futuristic transmission filtering UK dance music through a prism of dusty analogue sounds, scattering a sonic array of eyes-shut ecstasy over dark, reverent basslines.
And finally, Cali’s multi-instrumentalist producer Salami Rose Joe Louis (a signee to Flying Lotus’s independent label Brainfeeder) puts her spin on “Blossom”. Drawing influences from jazz, soul, hip-hop, pop, Shuggie Otis, Captain Beefheart, Stereolab, and R. Stevie Moore, Louis creates a blend of experimental dreamy sounds with jazz influenced vocals and keys. The final product is a blend of dreamy textures, ambient sounds, experimental beats and otherworldly jazz.
Forest City Remixes is available now across all digital platforms.