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London musician/producer Joe Hertz returns with ‘Kiss From The Sun’, the final focus track and title for his new EP released 21st September through Juicebox Recordings
Following on from his recent singles ‘Hideaway’ and ‘Black Oak’. Hertz flaunts his genre-fusing credentials in blending electronic, RnB and chillwave sensibilities on ‘Kiss From The Sun’. Joe says: “This is a collection of songs inspired by my time spent on the island of Ibiza over the years. I can’t specify why there is such a mystic beauty about the place. Hot days and starry nights, rosemary-covered hills, crickets, surrounded by deep blue sea. I find these kinds of surroundings a great way of escaping my day to day of city life, I have found it inspiring to write a lot there over the last few years. It was a way of resetting and reminding myself to break musical habits and try new things creatively. I spent the summer outside exploring the island, taking in my surroundings. When it came to writing these songs, I wanted to channel some of the feelings I got from these experiences. The video for ‘Kiss From The Sun’ was an attempt to capture those feels as well, using footage from my own trips there as well as footage from friends and family on the island.”
About Joe Hertz:
Joe Hertz released his first music in the heady days of Soundcloud and Majestic Casual uploads, and quickly became an internet phenomenon, amassing tens of millions play for tracks like ‘At Your Touch’ and ‘Stay Lost’, without leaving the confines of his tiny home studio setup.
Soon after these internet hits, Joe released the ‘How It Feels’ and ‘night/daze’ EPs, leaving behind the ‘bedroom producer’ label, and becoming one of the UK’s leading artist-producers whose consistent creative output soon attracted a dedicated global fanbase.
These EPs saw Joe achieve consistent multi-million streams on Spotify each month, (with his catalogue seeing over 150 Million streams and counting on that service alone), and demand for Joe as a DJ taking him to Paris, Los Angeles, Seoul, Shanghai and Amsterdam to name but a few.
Support from leading tastemakers such as Jamz Supernova (BBC R1Xtra), FACT Magazine, Notion, and Wonderland as well as mainstream stalwarts like Mista Jam (BBC R1, 1Xtra, Capital Dance) and Billboard has been consistent.
In 2020 while the world was locked down, Joe went back to his internet roots, starting his Twitch channel which fast became a hub for producers from around the world to come together and share tips, and goals and generally be part of a community at a time when social life was at a minimum. This led to a remix package exclusively from producers Joe had met via his Twitch channel.
2020 also saw Joe Hertz release his debut album ‘Current Blues’ including the singles One Sided’, ‘Møøn’, and ‘Rain in Cuba. ‘Current Blues’ showcased how skillfully Joe has found and initiated collaborations and features with up-and-coming artists from his hometown of London as well as across the globe – a point of pride for him. Across ‘Current Blues’ listeners will find the likes of Pip Millett, Blue Lab Beats, Brazilian singer Noño, South-London singer Collard, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sam Wills, and Japanese up-and-coming alt-pop star YonYon.
Post-album Joe spent time in Ibiza, re-grouping and looking ahead to what would be next. In that time he collaborated remotely with young up-and-coming dance star Jasper Tygner which led to a series of releases on Bristol’s finest new label Shall Not Fade (releases include Laurence Guy and DJ Boring) and again showed Joe’s canny taste when choosing collaborators such as well as his deft production and writing skills across genres.
Joe Hertz has proven himself to be as versatile and musical a producer as you will find. No wonder that he was raised on a strict diet of hip-hop, jazz, and soul, but also drum ‘n’ bass, dubstep and garage. By the age of 15, he was DJing and making music. “Hearing Burial was a real turning point for me early on,” explains Hertz. “I wanted more from my production style after that. I didn’t want to sound like him, but I wanted to get that emotion into my own music. It opened so many doors in my brain.”
This year sees Joe return with his own releases on Juicebox Recordings (the label he has been with since ‘Stay Lost’, also home to Franc Moody and Amber-Simone) – Expect this to be the first of a string of releases culminating in a new project later this year.
Kiss From The Sun / 21 September
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