TRACK REVIEW:
Carly Wilford – Chemistry (Extended Mix)
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I usually would…
include a score at the top of a review. A Pitchfork-style one scored out of ten. Objectively, this track is close to being a full ten. Even though I am a massive fan of Carly Wilford and have so much respect and love for her as D.J., artist and presenter, I am looking at Chemistry without bias. You can learn more about Carly Wilford’s story on her website, though it is clear this amazing and inspiring woman is a future icon and someone who is influencing so many others: “With her weekly show 4:4 on Tomorrowland One World Radio, Carly Wilford pioneers the first ever dedicated house music show on the station. Bringing the underground to the global stage and championing club culture on one of the world’s biggest dance platforms. After a breakout run of releases that landed across Spotify and Apple Music’s most influential playlists, Carly has secured her space as one of the most promising names in dance music”. I will come to a review of her phenomenal new track, Chemistry. I am reviewing it today (6th March). This post from Toolroom Records is intriguing: “This year we hosted our first writing camp for #WEARELISTENING at our new London studio complex. And today marks the release of the first 2 records made that very week 🔥🔥 @nausicadj - Funky Operator on Toolroom. @carlywilford - Chemistry on Toolroom Trax. 2 upfront jams ready for your USBs this weekend ⬇️And on International Women’s Day this year we have a surprise for you - keep an eye out for that on Sunday…”. Go and follow Carly Wilford, as she is a supreme D.J. queen. I was going to hold on until International Women’s Day on Sunday to see what else is coming, but I am doing my own thing that day. I am completing the Step4Change challenge for Refuge and that will preoccupy me. However, I did want to bring people’s attention to this track and its incredible creator. Sorry if I am already going off on a tangent, but make sure you follow Carly Wilford. At the moment, she only has a few Instagram posts. This seems like a new chapter and era. When an artist deletes posts and starts again. Making sure what is posted now is at the forefront and there are no distractions. Chemistry very much does seem to be this important moment!
I interviewed Carly Wilford last year, and I did ask about gender inequality and discrimination: “Like other areas of the music industry, there is gender inequality and discrimination when it comes to female DJs In terms of opportunities, pay imbalance and underrepresentation on festival line-ups. Do you think that there has been any improvement in these areas, and what does the industry need to do? This is such a tricky conversation, because in all honesty, over the last year it seems to have taken a real step backwards. We had got to a place where line-ups were hugely diverse, but now I’ve noticed that sometimes I can be the only female on there again. The calibre of diverse talent globally is stronger than it has ever been, so really there are no excuses. The diversity conversation isn’t new. So many of us have been fighting for it for a long time, and we should never not appreciate the progress that has been made, especially when it comes to respect in the booth and on dance floors. Things were very, very different ten years ago and trust me, we have come a lot further than we realise. As an industry, I think it’s more about ongoing awareness and day to day decisions when it comes to programming line-ups and highlighting the next wave of talent”. Carly Wilford shouted out other amazing D.J. queens and I have discovered so many new names through her recommendations. I am excited for International Women’s Day and to see what else comes. You can add Chemistry to your playlist. I am going to be focusing on the Extended Mix. I feel that there should be more conversation around women throughout the industry and affecting progress and greater rights. Artists, D.J.s, producers and talent like Carly Wilford are championing their female peers and highlighting how there needs to be steps forward. In some ways, the industry has gone backwards in recent years. In terms of misogyny, lower pay, fewer women on bills and booked for major slots. Even though Wilford is a major talent who is a worldwide success, she has worked tirelessly for years. She is such an insane talent that I feel she should be discussed more widely and played across more major stations. This is someone who is going to help affect some major changes through the industry! I can see her making music and thrilling crowds around the world for decades more. You can see how passionate and dedicated she is to what she does!
Before getting to Chemistry and writing around that, it is worth discussing Techno and House. These are genes that definitely had mainstream affection and attention years ago. Maybe decades. A period where they were very much at the forefront. Maybe in the late-1980s and 1990s there was this explosion of incredible and enduring Dance, Techno and Trance. Today, Pop is very much dominating the conversation. I do feel that genres like Techno and House are reserved more for clubs and particular radio stations. You hear these artists on playlists and festivals, yet it is not as prominent and visible as it should be. I think the innovation, colour and potency of so many of these amazing Techno/House artists and D.J.s is so mesmeric and important. When I was growing up in the 1990s, I was more attracted to Dance and House than pretty much any genres. Into the 2000s too. Spanning a range of sub-genres, records from Spiller (ft. Sophie Ellis-Bextor), Darude, ATB and Carl Cox. There is a particular duo that I am going to compare to Carly Wilford and Chemistry, as I think they revitalised and repurposed British Dance and Techno at the end of the 1990s. There is so much that I admire about Carly Wilford. In terms of her intelligence, innovation and drive as D.J. She is a magnificent radio presenter and has this voice that draws you in and stays in the mind. So hugely knowledgeable and someone who introduces us to so many incredible artists, I can see her pushing through as a major label boss in years to come. I can also see her fronting her own show on a station like BBC Radio 6 Music or BBC Radio 1. I believe Kiss and Gaydio have played the track. Wilford is such a hugely impressive force of good for music. One of the best D.J.s in the world, this is a compelling, stunning, powerful and insanely talented person who I feel will have a massive year! I am sure Carly Wilford will announce some festivals and dates very soon for the summer. Go and check out her social media and official website. In this review, I will embed the Extended Mix, but I have also dropped in a couple of Instagram posts from Wilford’s feed.
Toolroom posted this in the description of the YouTube video for Chemistry: “Toolroom Trax celebrates International Women’s Week with a record from label favourite Carly Wilford that was produced within a women-only writing camp in Toolroom’s London studios. Carly Wilford’s momentum is everywhere. Named one of 1001Tracklists’ Future of Dance Top 101 Producers, a Tomorrowland Radio host and heavily backed by BBC Radio 1, she’s opened stages at Radio 1’s Big Weekend and Glastonbury while releasing on labels like Nervous, Armada and Toolroom. With collaborations alongside Todd Terry and support from Green Velvet, Chris Lake, LP Giobbi and Eli Brown, Carly is clearly building something powerful”. I do wonder if there is going to be a video for this. One where Carly Wilford is at the front and we get to see this this story play out. Maybe a lyric video. I know that Wilford has influences as a writer and artist. In terms of what she grew up with and who she vibes to now. What you get from Chemistry is this cocktail-mix of bright and vivid sounds from around the world. There is a hint of Samba and South American inspiration. A sense of carnival and jubilation. Also elements of Ibiza and the Balearics. The tight and alluring beats. A vocal sample that is repeated. I am trying to put my finger on the genre and style that is unveiled at first in Chemistry. I might need to catch up with Wilford later in the year, as I am curious how a song like this is composed and produced. How she started it and how she builds the composition and layers. How much is worked out at home and in private before coming into the studio. Chemistry sounds so natural and free, you would imagine it was this very quick and organic process. Or it may have been a case of stuff coming together step by step. What is clear is how bright and warm the track is. How it is primed for the summer and getting people together! Even though it might also nod to twilight and people dancing on the beach or at a club, it is also vivacious and sexy. A song that has sweat, lust, blood-rush and punch. One of my favourite albums ever is Basement Jaxx’s 1999 debut, Remedy. Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe drew together Funky House, Jackin' House, and U.K. Garage. It heavily features elements of Latin House, Leftfield, Breaks, and Dance-Pop. It was a revelation at a time when British Techno and Dance was so pallid and one-dimensional. I do think there is a certain homogenisation and predictability coming through Pop. Look at Techno and House and artists like Carly Wilford and what she is creating right now, this is the type of music that very much needs to be in the spotlight!
Even if there are welcome and very pleasing notes of Basement Jaxx and this stunning fusion of international sounds and multiple genres, Wilford very much draws from the present and past. It is very much her own voice and direction, but you get these elements and textures of days gone by. It is fascinating picturing Wilford writing the track and building it in her head. In terms of the inspiration behind the song, was there a recent attraction that was in her mind? Whether she is in a relationship or not, did she experience this moment of affection and chemistry that compelled her to create a track? Maybe more from an impersonal standpoint, I think that every listener will take something away from the song. I love how there is this combination of a heavy and hard beat at the front and you notice something barer and more hand-played. Technology and electronics sitting with something more natural. That vocal sample and hiccup that rides this wave and sits on top of this incredible rush. Pulsating and hugely head-spinning, you are entranced by the sound. Imagining yourself in a scene. Again, every listener will be different. The words “Excuse me…” are spoken. With minimal words, you do get tis story and scene. The composition creates so many visions and sensations, but those words inject something human. Who those words are being spoken to and what the scenario is. “Do you feel the chemistry?”. “I think I could be into you”. Words that are repeated. These mantras and seductive lines. There are almost elements of Madonna in her regency together with these Techno, House and Club elements. The composition remains busy without ever losing direction or packing too much in. We hear beats, horns and sounds that take us to different parts of the world. The vocals are seductive and alluring but also dreamy in a sense. There is something about them and how they are deployed that makes them seem like these emerging from someone’s mind when they are asleep. Is that weird?! What I mean is that you get this tranced state. The composition is bursting and so compelling. The vocals have a different quality. It is that balance that makes the track so instantly awesome.
I am not a musicologist and am not great when it comes to genres and getting things right in that sense. I spun through Chemistry several times and was loathed to stop! A track that whips up so many images in your head. The fact there are a few lines that get deployed at various points and there is mix of Classic Trance and, yes, Madonna. It is such a refreshing thing to hear! “I want to ask you something” is the line that stands out. This one-sided conversation aimed at a person that we do not hear from or see. We have to speculate who it might be and where they are. Are these people locking eyes from across a club or this paradise? Part of the track and vibe takes you to a beach or this exotic world. There is also something more club-based and local. The bliss of the daytime heat and the sweat and dark energy of the night. So skilfully integrated and programmed. The track allows the extraordinary composition to unwind and get inside the mind and soul. The heart races (hard) and beats. I love how the vocal lines are woven through the beats, horns and electronics. You are dancing and nodding your head to the track but also hypnotised by the vocal and the words. Not too much is give away. There is that tease where you want to hear more and some dialogue. This is a woman asking someone if they feel the chemistry and attraction. This is a track that is destined to be a massive summer smash. Whether it will be part of Carly Wilford’s D.J. set and she will play this in clubs and in festivals or something bigger is planned for Chemistry, I do not know. Ahead of International Women’s Day, one of the music industry’s true queens has unveiled a track that is unforgettable. It is so nuanced that you take ten or eleven plays before everything comes out. This is a track perfect for workouts, for nights at the club. For moments when you are alone and need a lift. When you are at the beach with headphones on and totally lose yourself. I desperately want to know how it all came together and where those initial seeds emerged from, as Carly Wilford has released a true gem. I would love to see a video for this, as you can imagine something truly entrancing. That is what Chemistry is. It is so completely hypnotising! I have played it so many times and lose my head and heart in it! Not only should this song be played across the biggest station and get all the love in the world. Chemistry demonstrates what a terrific songwriter and producer Carly Wilford is. How female producers are not as supported as they should be. How many studios are still male-heavy. There are so many incredible women producing, though the industry is still not doing enough. I also feel Chemistry’s release and ties to International Women’s Day should lead to bigger conversations. About amazing and underrepresented and discussed women across music and how much they contribute. Their undeniable value that is often ignored. When we have these amazing voices like Carly Wilford putting out music of this order, I also know there are so many other women who are doing the same thing. Keep and eye out for this queen, as I think she is going to keep climbing and reaching higher and higher. I have known about her D.J. work for years, but her original music is newer to me. She amazes me with everything she does. Chemistry is possibly my favourite track of the year so far. As a D.J. and artist, I think that Carly Wilford is one of the most consistently awe-inspiring and fascinating talents…
THIS country has produced in a very long time.