Australian duo Feenixpawl are back with another monster single in the form of ‘First Light’, just in time for the beginning of the festival season. A moody progressive-leaning track, it features haunting vocals from PollyAnna’s ‘digital avatar and virtual artist project’ Crooked Bangs. We had the pleasure of speaking with Feenixpawl about this new single and a ton more.
Hey Feenixpawl, thanks for your time, how are you doing?
Josh: Doing great! Thanks for having us.
Aden: Not too bad thank you!
Let’s kick things off with your brand new single ‘First Light’, how happy are you with the finished product?
Josh: Couldn’t be happier. We’ve had this vocal for a long time, and it went through so many different variations, but to finally have a version we love feels amazing.
Aden: Stoked with how it turned out. After having it for so long, we’re just happy it turned out as good as it did.
How was it to work alongside Crooked Bangs and what do you feel she brought to the single aside from her vocals?
Josh: She’s the best. We’ve always been a big fan of hers and we’re so happy the world can now hear this song.
Aden: Working with talented and professional vocalists like her makes the job so much easier, and I think you can hear that in the music.
This single, along with some of your previous, incorporates elements of pop music with your melodic and uplifting tone, what is the inspiration behind this new style?
Josh: During the pandemic we took a step back from everything and decided to just focus on making music we love. Obviously it was a tough time for everyone around the world, we went through multiple lockdowns. I certainly went the longest period I’ve ever been without seeing my family. Aden and I live in different parts of the world now, he’s in Melbourne and I’m in LA, so we are touring less. Which I think is what prompted us to say, let’s make music we truly love listening to. We aren’t trying to make music for shows or festivals, but just songs that remind us of the parts of life that we cherish. And for us, this track embodies that completely. It harkens back to the days where we got our start, well before we had any sort of success, we played at Paradise Club in Mykonos and the sun was coming up. We were young, life was beautiful, and that’s was this track reminds us of!
Aden: Yeah like Josh said, the track is the perfect example of not having any other motives apart from making good music that we’re proud of. We weren’t concerned with how it can be played out live or anything, just something that is meaningful and fun to listen to.
Over the years you’ve incorporated elements of progressive, trance, pop, electro among others, how important is it for you both to experiment with new styles to keep things fresh?
Josh: Yeah we’ve always loved experimenting. It’s part of who we are. Like we said previously, we just love music of all genres so we love making music of all genres. It’s strange because our biggest song of course is ‘In My Mind’, so people tend to pigeonhole us “Progressive House” or “EDM” guys, but truthfully we started out just making and DJing house, and we’ve always tried to evolve.
Aden: Honestly, there’s people in the industry that have a sound and they can stick to it over their whole career. That’s not us. We need to keep fresh and be constantly inspired to write. We will always have our signature sounds but we think the music is constantly changing and evolving.
Are there any styles you haven’t dipped your toes into that you’d like?
Josh: I’m a Jazz geek. I love Jazz. I would totally love to do some sort of hybrid chill, electronic, Jazz-inspired album one day.
Aden: For me, I’d love to do a cinematic, movie score type of thing. A lot of the breakdowns we do are pretty cinematic so I don’t think it would be too much of a stretch!
If you were to have 1 dream collab in the dance music world and outside of the dance music world, who would it be?
Josh: In the dance world, probably Avicii, it’s sad we will never get that chance. Otherwise definitely Swedish House Mafia or Daft Punk. Outside of the dance world, right now, I would say Bruno Mars!
Aden: I think the Weeknd, Fleetwood Mac, Florence and the Machine and Coldplay would be at the top of my list at the moment!
With two massive hits in 2012 and 2019, along with many other amazing releases, do you guys have a secret for your longevity?
Josh: Again, I think just doing what we love and being able to evolve. Trying not to make music just to please people, but always to put out music that we truly stand behind.
Aden: I think we just love what we do so we stick at it. We don’t follow trends, we just make what we love and we think it shows. I hope people can hear that the music we make is genuine.
Thanks for taking the time to speak with me, do you guys have anything to announce with our readers?
Josh: Just keep an eye out for LOTS more music this year. We’re going hard and it will easily be the most amount of music we’ve ever put out in such a short period. Thanks for having us!
Aden: Like Josh said, follow us on socials so you’re across the hectic amount of music we have coming!
Stream ‘First Light’ below.
