Twofold feat. Leah Culver – Taken Back [Firepower Records]

Bass music is often thought of as rough and abrasive, leading to mosh pits, headbanging and lots and lots of energy at sets. However, those of us really familiar with the genre know that it can be deeply emotional and moving, as well.

Case in point is this latest release from Twofold, featuring the wonderful voice of Leah Culver (formerly MK Ultra). The deeply melodic and powerful tune has equally powerful lyrics from Leah, inspired by the tragic death of a friend. Comparable to tracks by Illenium, Seven Lions, or Skrux, Twofold steps away from his usual style for a more meaningful release and we’re so, so happy that he did.

Check out the tune, and read some words from Twofold himself on the release, below.

Were you and Leah friends/colleagues before you collaborated on this tune?

Yeah, this was actually a key part of our decision to contact Leah with the track. It’s a collaboration we’ve wanted to do for a while and we’re really happy it’s finally come to fruition. We’d been good friends for a while but never had the opportunity to work together until this song.

How did it come about that the two of you began to work on this specific track?

The intro was made early morning one day and was originally much longer than it is now in the final track. We tried a few different drops out with it and then finally we got the drop in a different project in a different DAW. After we’d imported the patches and midi across we had the fundamental structure of the song mapped out. From there we sent a clip to Leah and she was really happy to get straight to work on it, and then it was a matter of fine tuning everything to blend together.

I know that the lyrics are extremely personal to Leah. What was the process in transplanting that emotion into your music?

It’s always difficult dealing with serious subject matter in a Dance music track. By the very nature of Dance music, you want people to feel good and energetic listening to it, but when you also transmitting an earnest message, you have to get the balance right, and hopefully people will feel we’ve achieved that with this song. You can really hear how Leah’s emotions translate though her vocals and it really adds a lot of depth and importance to the song.

This is much less any specific genre, and more similar to just simply “bass music.” Was there a plan to make it less constricted, more free form?

Not so much a plan, I think it’s just an inevitability when you play around with as many sounds and styles as we have. We’ve never really settled on a genre and it’s the only way we want to make music. We’d both get tired of making the same thing over and over again so we experiment with everything we can. I guess sometimes the styles will blur as they have in this track.

I’ve always felt that lyrics are more than just words on a track, a voice is another instrument entirely. Is it easy or difficult to incorporate the new melodies from vocals into your heavier sound?

100% agreed, and for us, vocals really bring to life songs like this one. It wasn’t too much of a challenge to incorporate these vocals for this song, and I think the credit is due to Leah on that one. We really didn’t change much of the synth structure or many of the melodic progressions after the vocal came in. So in that respect, it shows how good Leah’s work was that her vocals fit the tune perfectly.

Is there a lesson that listeners might take away from Leah’s experience?

We don’t want to assign one particular lesson from this to preach to everyone, but there are definitely many lessons there. Some are obviously more obvious and apparent and these are worth giving a lot of thought. There is also more subtle information to be gained that won’t be immediately apparent, and each listener will experience differently. Our own feelings are that it’s important to take a lot of care for your health and to appreciate every moment you have here because it doesn’t last forever.