New Zealand electronic producer Race Banyon (aka Eddie Johnston) teases more new music with ‘Pressure Off’, the second offering from his upcoming new EP, set for release on 7th July.
The new cut follows on the recently released deep house R&B-tinged single ‘We Need It’. While Last year’s single ‘Move With Us’ – taken from EP 1, which saw support from the likes of Clash Magazine and DMC World, with Clash comparing its “experimental take on melody and structure” to the work of Jon Hopkins and James Holden.
Putting a fresh spin on straightforward tech-house club construction, Race Banyon created ‘Pressure Off’ around an Ableton’s arpeggiator loop, with the track’s rhythmic pulse moving through ambient tech-house to what Race Banyon describes as a “very interesting beat, almost like a New Orleans’ Bounce beat gravitating towards Jungle’s territory but without ever quite getting there. It’s like the hint of something that you can’t quite taste.”
Under his Race Banyon alias, Johnston has already garnered the attention of every music platform that counts; his collaboration with Ty Dolla $ign and DJ Dahi for Red Bull Sound Select has seen support from the likes of Complex, Dummy, The Fader, Hypebeast and Stereogum, with Red Bull calling him “New Zealand’s next big thing”. While his “tastefully minimalist production,” as defined by Dummy has led to him to sharing stages with the likes of Jamie XX, Rustie and Kaytranada, to name a few.
Cultivating a cult following online for the atmospheric pop songs he creates as Lontalius, which opened the doors to a collaboration with Ryan Hemsworth and prompt AnOther Magazine to list him their ‘New Zealand’s New Musical Revolution’ feature – Johnston was only 14 when started making music as Race Banyon – a project which he describes as “production focused and dance-oriented”.
With ‘Pressure Off’ Race Banyon produced four minutes of ample bliss, creating a multidimensional dance cut for daydreamers.