Australian electronic artist Willaris. K returns with new two-track single, Slow Down / Melt. Out now via Astralwerks, the release features new track Melt and the previously released single and music video for Slow Down which was unveiled last month.

Marking the next chapter in his sonic storytelling and continuing to add to an ever-growing catalogue of diverse productions, Melt sees Willaris. K channel the darker side of his musical influences to conjure a powerful and atmospheric techno track. The release also arrives with a dizzying kaleidoscopic visualiser by Matt Earl (Doja Cat, Cordae).

WATCH ‘MELT’ (OFFICIAL VISUALISER) BELOW

Debuted two years ago during a B2B set with long-time friend and rising electronic star Skin On Skin, Melt first started whilst Willaris. K was working as an electrical technician in Australia. Checking power conversion at substations along the New South Wales and Queensland border, he collected eerie field recordings which create the cinematic ambience throughout the track.

Willaras. K: “I started Melt at the start of 2020 in Sydney with my friend George Nicholas (from Seekae). It was the first one I made out of all these new songs, and it was the first time I felt like revisiting the sonic zone where I first started with a new perspective. It came together quickly and felt cathartic to be making heavy shit again. Like I was revisiting a place I’d been avoiding for a while. After my Alchemy EP, I wanted to make anything but that, and it took a few side quests making different music to come back and do it with the right intentions.”

Slow Down / Melt is Willaris. K’s first full release in two years and is the start of an exciting run of singles from the championed Australian electronic artist. Slow Down was released last month which reaffirmed his ability to create varying experimental sounds across the realms of electronic music from techno to electro, cinematic sounds and many more.

Created in Willaris. K’s Collingwood bedroom studio with friend/collaborator Tom Snowdon (No Mono, Lowlakes) and then mixed by Ewan Pearson who has worked with the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Foals, Depeche Mode and more, Slow Down was born out of late-night sessions that leaned into the “weirder sounds” whilst Melt is aimed at the dance floor.

Willaris. K : “Slow Down has been a bit of an escape for me. It’s the song I’ve been most drawn towards working on when things were feeling heavy, because it existed in a place outside of the live show - where my music usually existed.

I remember we were working on music not really getting anywhere, went to the pub for a beer then came home and started playing around with a weird beat with a weird vocal which became the start of Slow Down. It existed as a minute long loop for a while but every time I came back to it, it grabbed me. Tom recorded a bunch of vocals and it just sat on my laptop for a while, at the time it stopped before the last section and I always saw it as some sort of interlude but whenever I came back to it grabbed me.”

Speaking of how the song has absorbed the currents of the world and his own personal surroundings over the last two years, the producer reflected, “Slow Down has been a bit of a premonition. Written instinctively pre pandemic, it has actually ended up becoming a personal mantra - a reminder that we can all take a breath when the world becomes overwhelming.”

Featuring actor Thomas Weatherall, the video for Slow Down was inspired by a conversation with director Bonnie Moir, producer Sarah Marcuson and cinematographer Max Walter, where Moir says they “wanted to create a visual world that spoke to the genius of Jack’s [Willaris. K] sound, something that drew upon and augmented what he’s doing musically.”

“The idea is centred around a young man’s descent into madness. The young man, played brilliantly by Thomas Weatherall, enters a living nightmare brought on by delusion and paranoia. We wanted to create a sense of dread and foreboding, hinting at a menacing presence that lurks behind the thin veneer of civility. It was such a pleasure working with Jack on this video.”

WATCH ‘SLOW DOWN’ (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) BELOW

Slow Down / Melt is the first taste of new music from Willaris. K since the release of his Lustre and Full Noise EPs in 2020, which were met with praise from BBC Radio 1, triple j, Mixmag, The Guardian UK, Beats 1, Stereogum,NME and Earmilk, along with other global tastemakers.

More recently, Willaris. K has created official remixes for Grammy-nominated artists Flume and RÜFÜS DU SOL and has dipped his toe in the world of film and TV, scoring the trailer for HBO series ‘This Is Love Life’ and working on a new US TV series alongside Alex Somers (Sigur Rós producer, Black Mirror composer).

Now available to stream and purchase, Slow Down / Melt marks the start of a run of new releases from Willaris. K across 2022.

Willaris. K – Slow Down / Melt is out now via Astralwerks