KEiiNO & Electric Fields – Would I Lie

“If anyone else tried this, I’d probably be all ‘yeah, jog on mate, don’t get all up yourself'”

Tim: Quick recap: your phrasing last time we featured KEiiNO was “has the gimmick reached its limit?” and I pretty much agreed. They clearly think not, as they’ve teamed up with an Aboriginal Australian group, and are properly doubling down on it.

Tom: I mean, if the gimmick’s drawing attention to genres and creators that are normally ignored, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing.

Tom: You know what? I don’t think that’s a bad song either.

Tim: And I think it works, with the significant caveat that it works as a KEiiNO track. It’s not unlike my reaction to the Boy In Space track we had the other week: if anyone else tried this, I’d probably be all ‘yeah, jog on mate, don’t get all up yourself’, but knowing what to expect from them it seems okay, maybe because I’m prepared for it. I’m thinking ‘yep, this is great so far, wonder when that weird bit’ll come along’, and being almost pleasantly surprised by ‘oh, we’ve got two types of weird bit!’

Tom: Right! And “weird bit” is exactly how most of the mainstream European pop scene will see the collaboration. It’s notable that this feels much more like a “feat.” than a true collaboration as that credit would imply: they’re keeping it mostly-mainstream. I’ll leave discussing the implications of that to better scholars than me.

Tim: I’m fairly sure they complement each other nicely, as well: the less-weird (I think?) Electric Fields bit almost serves as a warm up for Fred coming along along with the trademark. As far as the breakdown goes: hmm, it’s on the better side of its type, not being too aggressive, and again its novelty helps.

Tom: As does the fact that the mainstream parts are really bloody good.

Tim: They really are. With this, I’m right on board.