Kavinsky Releases First Album in Nine Years 'Reborn'

Kavinsky returns with Reborn - his first album in nine years - and the official video for the entrancing track "Cameo" featuring Kareen Lomax on vocals. With its bubbling, infectious vibe, the track is irresistible, just like its subject - the ex-lover who "always makes a cameo."

Lomax - the singer-songwriter known for songs like "Melatonin" and "Hard Feelings" and her feature on the Diplo/Paul Woolford hit "Looking For Me" - wrote the lyrics with Feli Ferraro. Kavinsky wrote the music and produced alongside Victor Le Masne. The official video for "Cameo," directed by Filip Nilsson (Major Lazer, Justice, Röyksopp), offers an imaginative twist on cinematic cameos. Music video production was done by Henry.tv.

Nilsson recalls being inspired by a clip he had seen of stuntpersons. "It was like a dance, so well-choreographed. I thought, 'what if everyone was Kavinsky and beating the s out of themselves?'" he explains.

"Cameos, lasers, stunts, an abandoned horse racing arena and insane FPV drone footage - it felt like a good mix, and it resonates really well with the Kavinsky legacy and with this track. The challenge on a shoot like this was to make sure no one got hurt. The drone flying among a crowd and chasing people jumping from tall buildings was tricky. It was also a strong moment seeing my friend Gaspard Auge from Justice do a cameo, swinging his ancient weapon."

Released today by Astralwerks / Record Makers, Reborn is the follow-up to Kavinsky's 2013 full-length debut, Outrun, which included the singles "Nightcall," "Roadgame," and "Odd Look." Featured in the opening scene of Nicolas Winding Refn's classic 2010 movie Drive and produced by Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, "Nightcall" made Kavinsky an electro pop legend and went on to amass more than 500 million streams.

"After the sudden success of 'Nightcall,' I didn't really want to record again," recalls Kavinsky. "I took two steps back and started to imagine what I was going to record after that, at my own pace. The break allowed people to forget about me for a little bit so that when I felt ready to return, I could perhaps try new things."

While still infused with his trademark theatrical synth pop landscapes and just as visually evocative as Outrun, Reborn is sonically larger. Outrun was an album of its time, fast and furious, produced in full throttle / full compression mode. On Reborn, Kavinsky wanted to record something more timeless and more musical by taking the time to experiment with gear, instruments and his collaborators, which include Victor Le Masne and Gaspard Augé (half of the group Justice). Kavinsky speaks candidly with MixMag about his extended break and the approach he took to recording Reborn in this feature.

The two tracks he shared in the lead-up to the album's release instantly captured the attention of critics, with Pitchfork, Stereogum, NME, The Line of Best Fit and others quick to spread the word that Kavinsky was back. Dancing Astronaut said, "'Renegade' picks up precisely where Kavinsky left off...bringing his unmistakable synthwave savvy into the newest decade...[and] tapping Cautious Clay for a smooth vocal backing." Celebrating his "grand return," EDM.com hailed "Renegade" as "another Kavinsky classic...[a] dazzling retro-inspired song." The track quickly racked up over two million combined global streams.

NME praised "Zenith" feat. Prudence & Morgan Phalen as a "romantic slow burner" and spoke with Kavinsky about the new album in this feature. Hailing it as "the spiritual successor to 'Nightcall,'" Billboard said, "the new synth work is electric, with sultry vocals tinged with just enough robotic hue to give your spine the shivers." Brooklyn Vegan observed, "'Zenith' is like 1979 condensed into one gleaming slow strut." Phalen, who sang with Justice and is the vocalist of Diamond Nights, is also the featured vocalist on "Plasma" and "Vigilante."

Recorded in the late Philippe Zdar's Motorbass studio in Paris, Reborn is a clear-cut and carefully crafted tribute to the history of pop culture put together by a very special artist with a unique ability to cite masterpieces from many fields, time and space while painting a precise and personal vision of the future.

Watch the new music video here:

Listen to the new album here:

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