Dave Rice and Biometrix team up with CloudKid Records for their first release together – a cover of Ian Van Dahl’s stone-cold trance classic, ‘Castles In The Sky’. This new take on the tune pays homage to the original, while taking it in a completely new direction; bold and cinematic with live strings, twinkling electronics and earth-shaking bass.
A truly international collaboration, the UK-based Biometrix and US-based Rice, brought on Ukrainian violinist Irina Markevich to bring the string parts to life – just before war broke out in her country. Rice explains that despite the ongoing conflict, “Irina remains in Ukraine and it is my dream that we can all one day perform the song together”.
Dave Rice is a California native and grew up playing backyard parties alongside Snoop Dogg and Sublime. In more recent years he has carved out a niche for himself as an outstanding producer of melodic EDM. Biometrix has collected over 100 million streams across DSPs and has scored recent support from the likes of Radio 1, The Prototypes, Loadstar, Zeds Dead, Spinnin, Trap Nation, and MrSuicideSheep. Together they’ve created a powerful yet poignant musical statement that stands to be one of the records of 2022.
Describing the creative process Rice says “Obviously this is an iconic song that for many has long been forgotten. When I had more recently listened to it, I instantly envisioned an acoustic version with a simple violin. As I started working on it, the orchestra and arrangement naturally grew and became more dynamic. After the arrangement was complete, it was missing a heart and it needed an accomplished player to contribute – this is when we brought Irina in. All along, Biometrix was collaborating and giving guidance in the background which led to him creating a vocal treatment that brought it all together. Eventually the song developed further into the more electronic version that we’re releasing now.”
