Premiere • Prov (Ft. Moon Man & Benjamin): "Nebula"
Chicago producer and engineer Prov aka Provsounds has had an incredibly productive week. After producing Sylvie Grace's first solo release of 2016, he went on to release a song with CLEW, the first off of their upcoming EP, Get a Clue. Now, dropping something proper on his own SoundCloud, Prov comes through with the song "Nebula". Featuring Chicago/San Francisco duo Moon Man & Benjamin as well as some ominous vocals from an unknown singer, the song is a cosmic experience lost in outer space. Enjoy the premiere up above and read the Q+A below.
“Imagine trekking through an outer galactic rainforest in an alternate dimension, parallel universe, where a mystical female creature sings moody, jazzy notes to your soul while shaking numerous organic percussion instruments with each of her 11 limbs.””
You mentioned to me that the song has been in the works for eight months. What's the process been like?
Prov: This record has been an adventure. Quite literally, the stems to this track have traveled thousands of miles back and forth between San Francisco and Chicago numerous times, through multiple seasons of the year.
Was this project passed around digitally or was it an in-person collaboration?
Prov: Both. It started when I met up with the producer duo Moon Man & Benjamin (Joey and Ayani) in San Francisco, where they are from. I’d known Joey from Chicago, where we both attended Columbia College, but we hadn’t worked together yet. So, I thought it would be interesting to start a collaboration with them in person. I laid down a guitar progression and they laid down a chord progression on a synth. Our initial session was only about an hour long, so we decided to send the stems back and forth, developing the structure and composition of the track over time. Eventually, Joey and I sat down in Chicago to touch up a few parts in person. Ayani sent us a final bass line and the instrumental was complete. Joey and I mixed the instrumental and we were getting ready to release it, until I had a session with an anonymous vocalist who freestyled in a very experimental, avant-garde manner. I was really intrigued and asked her if we could record it, and so we did. Collectively, we thought that the vocals tied everything together and engaged us as listeners. After some final vocal chopping and editing, we received a mastered record in our inboxes.
Is this just a loose single or part of something bigger?
Prov: This is definitely a loose single for now. It was our first collaboration and kind of our way of testing the waters of what it's like to work together. Our sounds are similar and we really feed off similar moods and rhythms but you never know what it’s going to be like until you can complete a record together. After this experience we will definitely be working more together. Now that we got the ball rolling, I feel like there’s a lot more to be created.
What can we expect from all artists involved for the remainder of 2016?
Prov: I have an EP with CLEW and an EP with Telana dropping this fall. I also have been working on a project with Daniella DeLuna, so there will be a release or two with her before the end of the year. Who knows, there might even be a follow up collaborative release with Moon Man & Benjamin right around the corner. Stay tuned.
Moon Man & Benjamin: We have been taking some time the past couple years to get our sound a little more where we want it. We have finally got somewhere that we are really stoked on and are ready to release a very large wave of music. We are currently looking for some support for our first round of demos and original material, which could potentially be combined for a cool little EP with a larger project to follow.
Any final words/thoughts/shout-outs?
Prov: Shouts to my brother Nikita Krivoshey for the beautiful cover art, Bryan “Kawaakari” Schwaller for his mastering skills, Elias Abid, Iris Temple, Jaime Black and the entire Dynasty Podcasts family, my parents, Alex “Excel” Cruz and The Jungle AE, Fat Jesus and Classick Studios, and all the artists and musicians holding it down in Chicago who constantly inspire me with consistent magic and hard work ethic.
Moon Man & Benjamin: We would love to give a shout out to the homies Epicure Music, Bleeklino, Raz Voodoo, Tate Robertson and Boxing Fetish for being super cool and inspiring folks.
