In the often overblown world of crossover dance music, Camelphat & Elderbrook’s track Cola has been an appealing anomaly.
The Liverpool DJ duo worked with the London singer, real name Alex Kotz, for just one four-hour session in February 2017, where they came up with this tense, slow-building tune, led by Elderbrook’s soft, understated vocals, and went their separate ways.
The next time they were together was a year later at the Grammys, where the song was nominated for Best Dance Recording.
It also reached number one in the US Dance Club Songs chart, spent 10 weeks in our top 40 last autumn, and just missed out on an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song a fortnight ago.
Much to live up to, then, as Elderbrook relaunches his solo career this month with Sleepwalking, a collaboration with Empire of the Sun’s Nick Littlemore and producer Toddla T.
It’s a light, summery track, a little more cutesy than its predecessor, but again it’s the singer’s low-key voice that’s the chief source of its appeal. If it proves another hit, he can celebrate with something a bit stronger than Cola.
