Kasbo Teases New Album With A Double Single Release

In a little over a month’s time, Swedish producer Kasbo will be releasing his highly-anticipated album The Making of A Paracosm on October 23rd. As a treat to fans, he has shared two new singles ahead of the date with “Staying In Love” & “Skogsrå”, both of which illuminate his strength as an electronic musician and songwriter.

Written about falling out of love and remembering a better time, “Staying In Love” is a heartfelt, EDM-inspired track co-written by fellow Swede Nea. Despite its powerful presence on the record, Kabo opens up about his doubts about its inclusion. “I wasn’t originally having this one on the album. I went to Stockholm for a few weeks to wrap up the last parts of the album, recording vocals, etc”, he begins. “Me and Linnea (Nea) hung out there and she convinced me that I needed to try to make it work for the album even though I was in the final mixing step for the other tunes. I’m insanely happy she did because this is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The heartfelt lyrics about the inevitability of love fading, the melodies, and everything is just so strong and moving. I pushed myself really hard to make this song feel like something unique production-wise. It draws on inspiration from Jungle, Ambient, Lofi, pop music, and my more classic sound and I’m super happy how it all came together.”

Sharing similarities to the likes of Madeon, Matt Zo, and later-career Avicii, the glittering pop elements of Nea’s voice guide the listener through the versus before everything collides on the chorus for an explosive, EDM-style drop.

While almost entirely instrumental, the second single “Skogsrå” shows Kasbo’s more experimental side of production, incorporating glitchy production in the style of Hudson Mohawke and Porter Robinson’s side project Virtual Self. Kasbo explains, “I was in a bit of a dry spell when I made Skogsrå. I remember deciding that I had to make a song a day, to stop overthinking the music and lose the pressure of every song I made needing to be perfect or ideal for the album. I think I made Skogsrå on day 4, and it’s the most polarizing and unconventional song I’ve made to date.”

With its sharp edges and shifting textures, “Skogsrå” lives up to its name and inspiration. “It’s so aggressive and ravey in such a fun and cool way and different from anything I’ve heard”, Kasbo explains. “For the vocals, me and Ourchives were in the studio one day and felt like the song had almost a predatorial feel to it, which spawned the idea of writing lyrics about a “skogsrå” which is a female Swedish mythical creature, who pretty much hunts men in the forest. We knew we wanted to write from the perspective of the Skogsrå who is slowly familiarizing herself with her instincts and found Tove who had the perfect voice and delivery to fully paint the picture. We ended up with a song that turned out to be what I consider to be one of my most interesting works to date.”

Listen to the new singles below, as well as his two previous ones.

You can find “Staying In Love” alongside more of my favourite singles on my “Starting Line-Up” Spotify Playlist.