Australian-American experimental pop duo Yulan & Blaise turn an overactive mind into something irresistibly physical on new single ‘Growing Pains’.
This new self-produced track began as a lullaby-like voice note before mutating into pounding, minimalist dance-pop. Hypnotic vocals collide with gritty textures, otherworldly woodwinds and a relentless pulse, capturing the strange realisation that growing pains don’t necessarily disappear with adulthood.
Yulan spent part of her teenage years living aboard a catamaran off Australia, while Blaise Garza grew up freediving in San Diego. And ‘Growing Pains’ attempts to bottle the jolt of plunging into salt water; an escape from spiralling thoughts through pure physical sensation.
The production takes that idea even further, sampling shells collected in Lutruwita/Tasmania alongside Chinese xūn, tubax and bass saxophone, creating a fascinating collision between organic and synthetic sounds.
Strange, playful and exhilaratingly restless, ‘Growing Pains’ makes the case for refusing to stand still; however old you get.