Image: Vasili Papathanasopoulos
Sydney-based producer and songwriter KESMAR has unveiled his shimmering new single, Delora. The musical project of Nathan Hawes, KESMAR wrote the track with his longtime collaborator, Tobias Priddle.
After debuting the song at his headline show in Sydney last month, the track arrives at just the right time, with its sunshine-laced sound, breezy melodies and funky synths working together to create the perfect summer track. Delora will join the musicians previous singles Meteorite and Back Up on KESMAR’s sophomore EP, Forever Holiday, due to be released in the coming months.
Speaking of the track, Hawes shares: “The day that we wrote ‘Delora’ nothing really went in our favour, a series of technical issues lead to Tij's computer completely dying so we had to resort to the laptop I had with me at the time, which was incredibly slow but somehow we persevered and came out with a song that stuck with me for well over a year. It was originally demoed with a straight beat but after maybe four other versions it found its way into a Toto-esque shuffle groove which i was totally down for. We wanted to change it up from live drums to the infamous LM1 drum machine, made famous by Michael Jackson, Prince etc.. We also took a step back from the heavily used Fender Rhodes and swapped it out for a Yamaha DX7, from then we had a clear version on how the song should sound and feel. Unlike a lot of the other new songs the lyric concept is fairly upfront and direct but i won’t go too deep into that.. I still like to leave it up to your own imagination, hopefully everyone can relate to knowing a ‘Delora' -type personality in their own lives.'
Hawes launched KESMAR in 2019 with his debut EP, Up To You. The release saw the musician undertake a collaborative approach, collaborating with LANKS, Tim Ayre and Priddle. The release saw him hit the road with Vera Blue and Miami Horror. During isolation, Hawes found the time to hone in on his craft, refining his creative process. This ultimately led to the creation of a new body of that leans into groove-tinged sounds with flecks of disco and funk. ”I wanted to make a bunch of songs that basically just made me happy and I hope it has the same effect on others' he explains.
Delora is out now. Watch our interview with KESMAR below.