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Single Premiere: Hachiku's Serene Remix of Sunfruits' "Whatever You Want"
Today we are lucky enough to be premiering Hachiku's dreamy remix of "Whatever You Want," the latest release for the upcoming Certified Remixes EP from the Melbourne-based four-piece Sunfruits.
The members of psychedelic pop band Sunfruits may look familiar to some, each having come from various other well-loved musical projects. Between them, founder Winnie McQuinn (Ruby Gill, IV League), Evie Vlah (Jungle Cuffs), Elena Jones (Stella Farnan) and Gene Argiro (Stella Bridie) possess a vast and complimentary range of stylistic influences that can be heard within the band's colorful kaleidoscope jumble of brain-warping psych-pop, warped disco beats, and Tropicalia-inspired freak outs. While Sunfruits' sound harks back to the sixties, similar to bands like Babe Rainbow, Nice Biscuit, and Bananagun, their lyrical messages are focused on current-day social and environmental issues.
Despite all the setbacks of 2020, last year was a productive one for the band who gave us not only their debut EP Certified Organic, but also a double single: Mushroom Kingdom / Bonsoy. Following on from this bold emergence, Sunfruits are back at the close of 2021 with Certified Remixes, an EP featuring three remixes of their own songs from the Certified Organic EP. Each remix shows the original tracks reaching new dimensions, exhibiting just how far and exploratory the textures of the original compositions can extend. On the previous remix, Traffik Island, a.k.a. Zak Olsen, completely reconstructed the sprawling psychedelic detour "Above the Clouds" into a shuffling sonic landscape with layers of synths, wistful samples and skittering breakbeats. Today we get to hear "Whatever You Want" remixed by fellow Melbourne artist Hachiku, a.k.a. Anika Ostendorf, who's known for her catchy avant-garde bedroom-pop.
Across her remix of "Whatever You Want," Hachiku spends time building dark, textural layers, taking the structure and melodies of the original track and launching them into a fuzzy dreamscape where mellotrons, lush guitars and symphony orchestra samples and overdubs replace the original sun-soaked instrumentation, reaching deeper into their delicately woven and pastoral sonic bliss. The remix feels like a melancholic reverie, blending the groovy free-form approach of the original track with Hachiku's signature dream pop style and painterly touch.
Hachiku's remix of "Whatever You Want" is in good company on the EP, where other Sunfruits tracks "Above The Clouds" and "Mushroom Kingdom" have been creatively reimagined by fellow Melbourne artists Traffik Island and Candy, a.k.a. Calum Newton, to create the vibrant and danceable journey that is Certified Remixes.
Speaking about the new remix, McQuinn said via email, "Aside from being big fans of all the artists we chose, we thought that each of them would align with our music super well. Having Zak and Calum (Candy) work on 'Above The Clouds' and 'Mushroom Kingdom' respectively, it seemed like the perfect choices to suit their individual aesthetics. Having also heard and loved Anika's (Hachiku) remix of Jen Cloher's 'Sensory Memory,' we thought she would be the perfect person to reach out to — and she really came through with transforming 'Whatever you Want' into something new and beautiful!"
Certified Remixes EP is out December 9 through Third Eye Stimuli Records. Pre-order the upcoming EP here and stream the new single below.