Listen to ‘Chasing the Sun’ on Spotify and Apple Music. Check out Täpp Collective’s Bandcamp page.

Täpp Collective, helmed by violinist Rebekah Reid, released its debut single ‘Chasing the Sun’ on 30 April. Reid crafts melodies on her violin and loops them alongside Abbi Phillips on drums and sample pad. 

The two know each other through the Manchester music scene, and wrote ‘Chasing the Sun’ together, inspired by the feeling of Sundays at music festivals. 2019 was a spectacular summer for Reid at festivals-she cited We Out Here, Shambala, and Brainchild as just three inspirations for the song.

The warmly-lit video teaser for ‘Chasing the Sun’ was recorded in one take by Word of Mouth Production’s sound engineer Alex Armstrong Holding at Wellington House, a repurposed warehouse for musicians in Manchester. It affords the listener a glimpse into the alchemy Reid works with equipment spanning over two centuries: her 1786 Johann Karl Klotz violin and Boss RC-300 loop pedal. She layers bright, climbing strains that convey the upbeat contentment felt waking up amongst friends. Phillips plays an appropriately spirited drum groove, and controls the bassline on synthetic drum loops. The song’s ebullience belies Reid’s deft footwork on the loop pedals. She uses delay, harmonises to reach lower frequencies, fades out, and deletes previous samples to conjure the intimacy of a chamber orchestra.  

Two thirds in, just about when a more ornery listener might find the song too sweet, Reid steers the piece to a darker, more hedonistic place, where the “glorious chilled start to the festival day descends into an epic gig that keeps you up all night.” The vibe of the song subtly morphs: the melody recedes layer by layer, and Phillips introduces glitchy, synthy samples on her SPD during the bridge. Reid lightly plucks into an edging minor key, which swells into a harmonic, shimmering fugue evocative of dancing with abandon.

Täpp Collective’s EP will be released at the end of July also features Contours (Tom Burford) on drum machine and balafon, and Alex Hill on piano and loop pedal.

‘Catching the Sun’ is also available on the following streaming platforms:
Amazon
Deezer
Google Play
Tidal