The Final Piece Falls Into Place: Christian Burns & Banaati Preview ‘Waking Up In A Northern Town’
‘Embers’ closes out the album's single run with poignant lament, unstinting hope, and a 9-minute progressive-trance rework from York.
On the cusp of ‘Waking Up In A Northern Town’ - Christian Burns’s follow-up to his critically-acclaimed 2021 ‘Love Songs From Suburbia’ LP - the UK-born/US-based singer-songwriter lays down its final single preface.
In doing so, he’s chosen this juncture to square the focus squarely on Banaati - the most significant co-production element involved in ‘Northern Town’s development.
With ‘Fall To You’, ‘I Will Follow’, ‘Strangers’ and others already entered into ‘Northern Town’s ledger, ‘Embers’ may just prove the album’s ultimate single personification.
Banaati is of course Benjamin Banaati, the Swedish producer who, in a remarkably short period of time, has etched close to a dozen releases onto Monstercat’s discography. In Benjamin, Christian discovered a stylistic likemind with which to grace ‘Embers’, and then more broadly the album. Benjamin’s backing proves to be a masterclass in transcendent space, knowing as much when to elementally delay or subtract, as to add. That supplies a production that appears to wrap itself around the listener and one you’ll lean into evermore.
That’s lent further weight by Christian’s lyrics, which capture a desire - and perhaps an urgent one at that, to rekindle a fading relationship before the sands run out. Striking a poignant balance between reflectional lament and unstinting hope, his words use the elemental imagery of ‘Embers’ to anchor its high emotional stakes.
With Banaati’s studio handling the chilled end of the room, York’s rework traces more of a progressive-trance outline around the track. Through hi-hat ride, hunting horn drift, and the most judicious of snare drive, over 9+ minutes his ‘Embers’ slow-burn and refuse to die.
