18-year-old Norwegian producer Niilas first caught our attention with his calm yet trancey dance track, Ocelote. Inspired by fellow Nordic talent Royksopp and Cashmere Cat (there must be something in the fjords!) the young talent manages to make heavy music genuinely beautiful. Hugely impressed by his work, we jumped at the chance to premiere his new release, Cosylan.
“It was a tune I made with the intention of combining an upbeat feel and sound, with hard hitting club-oriented drums. I feel like it’s a track that is easy to listen to in both the shower and the club,” Niilas explains, clearly understanding completely our musical tastes. “I wanted to create a song that sounds like it could almost be a remix of something, with interesting use of synths and samplers – techniques acts like Kaytranada and Flume are so good at – with tons of different percussive elements driving the beat forward. I often listen to Machinedrum specifically, to analyze how he switches up beats in half-time and regular-time, with seemingly a hundred percussions and rhythms flowing at the same time. I spend a lot of time tending to details.”
Cosylan is due for release on September 25, followed by Niilas’ debut EP on January 22 via Balsa Wood Records.