Just a short month removed from his Warm Notes For You EP, Celadon City — the musical persona of Oklahoma City producer and Safari Collective ringleader Ethan Strange — can’t help himself, sliding into SXSW season with a new single “Come Outside with Me,” released both as a somber ambient track and similarly chilling version with a most welcomed guest vocalist.
Consider these regular single debuts your monthly therapy session. Dude feels all the feels and makes sure his listeners do too, perfecting the reflective, just-this-side-of-melancholic electronic jams that aim to introduce the faintest glimmer of hope at the end of his brisk compositions. That’s especially prodded out with “Come Outside with Me,” a song designed and layered to capture the very sensation of getting a breath of fresh air. It’s akin to anime spin on Romeo & Juliet: garden-party electronica, 8-bit greenery, star pendants and gem sparkling water fountains played with a swollen heart and tear-dried cheeks. Already a thoughtful, contemplative producer, Celadon City’s sentiment is amplified by the tender but steady vocals of Ivy Hollivana, which bring a fragile human touch to something otherwise coolly robotic.
The vocals suit Celadon City well; as powerful as he is alone, the warm whispers and subtly operatic falsetto usher to the fringe of something new — or at least deeper into the same landscape — edging toward Kid A or Braids’ Native Speaker. If nothing else, the single shows how well Celadon City plays with others, even if he’s totally at ease drifting along with only his thoughts for company.
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Celadon City will appear at the Safari Collective/Galaxy Swim Team Showcase with The Hitt Boyz, Akiba, kanon_kid, Synchronicity and Vallco Guardian. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 16 at Dope Chapel, 115 S. Crawford Ave. in Norman. Cover is $5.
