“Afterglow is a collection of personal songs that kept on simmering in my head after finishing The Shimmer”, Max Colombie explains, “They’re a bit rougher and closer to the heart than songs I’d usually share. In that sense the EP holds an element of voyeurism, like giving a stranger the passcode to my phone. Something that I actually did do with my friend Leo in LA, to create the visuals of the album.”
The accompanying video is exactly that; getting a sneek peek at Max’s homevideo, him dancing, laughing, living… The track is an ode to Max’s muse.
“It’s about locking eyes with that person as they dance freely in the night and grab the attention of everyone around them as they spread their infectious light on their surroundings. A love song to the mesmerizing.”
The video will premiere on Oscar and the Wolf’s YouTube channel on Friday 11am.
Oscar and the Wolf - Dancing Machine (lnk.to)
'Dancing Machine' is one of Oscar and the Wolfs most infectious pop tunes so far. Setting sunsoaked upbeat synths to his trademark melancholic undertones. The beach, golden sunsets, broken hearts and mended souls… Classic Oscar and the Wolf.
MORE ON OSCAR AND THE WOLF
Oscar and the Wolf’s official debut, the 2012 EP Summer Skin, showed his talent already full-formed, but truly found his voice in 2014 with the release of his debut album, Entity. Sitting somewhere between dancefloor anthems and slow jams, Entity went 4 times platinum in his native Belgium and quickly jettisoned Colombie to superstar status. He sold out arenas in Belgium and the Netherlands and secured a headlining slot (behind Muse) at 2016's Lowlands Festival before headlining Belgium’s Pukkelpop Festival, where he shared the bill with Rihanna and LCD Soundsystem.
In 2017, the second Oscar and the Wolf album, Infinity, went platinum at home and amassed a huge Middle Eastern fanbase across Turkey (where his 2018 tour sold out in minutes), Egypt, Israel, and Iran. On stage, Colombie cuts a commanding and lithe performance, often garbed in shimmering outfits alongside dynamic lighting displays.
The latest album, The Shimmer, embodies Colombie’s sound and vision in both its title and the album art— which features Colombie basking in the starry light. The album is a benchmark of his transformation to date. Entity was recorded in a barn– “very lo-fi with no access to gear,” he shares, whereas The Shimmer’s bold, rich, and layered dynamics were captured at ICP Studios in Brussels– home to “one of the best live rooms in Europe, with all this vintage gear.” More intimate moments were added to the record at Colombie’s house outside of the city and he adds, “Those magic takes we made just after we’d written something are so special and impossible to recreate.”
By "we" Colombie is referring to producer Jeroen De Pessemier and multi-instrumentalist Ozan Bozdag, who both worked on Infinity (and Bozdag on Entity too). “It’s a magical trio,” Colombie says. “Everyone is allowed to be themselves and to explore themselves. I’m really happy with The Shimmer because I hear a more mature version of myself. I always want things to grow, and I’m proud that I allowed myself to not follow people’s expectations and reproduce what had been successful before. There are no four-to-the-floor clubby pop songs this time.” Instead, The Shimmer most accurately reflects Colombie’s personality. “My emotions run from super-happy to super-melancholic in a split second,” he says. “To me, The Shimmer feels like the soundtrack to a blockbuster, with many types of tracks and themes. It’s always changing.”
Live:
21.08.22 — PUKKELPOP, KIEWIT
12.11.22 — SPORTPALEIS, ANTWERP
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