This summer has seen AR/CO emerge as major new contenders in the UK dance scene. Their Franky Wah collab ‘Under The Sun’ hit Radio 1’s B-list, #19 on the UK Dance chart, and #61 on the Shazam chart, and saw the duo join him for Radio 1 Skyline Session on top of Broadcasting House. Their track ‘Call Me By My Name’ received airplay from Sir Elton John and Gemma Bradley (Radio 1 / BBC Music Introducing), and they continued to win new fans by teaming up with The Stickmen Project for ‘Tears In Ibiza’.

Now AR/CO’s rise continues with the release of their new single ‘Night Feels’, which is released alongside its official video. Watch the official video below.

With ‘Night Feels’, AR/CO keep the heady summer vibe at fever pitch even as the season begins to near its conclusion. It’s an escapist, liberating mix of the elements that people love from a summer dance anthem: ultra-melodic with a dynamite drop, sizzling male/female vocal harmonies and lyrics which celebrate the pure joy of living for the moment. Like ‘Call Me By My Name’, ‘Night Feels’ also lives up to AR/CO’s ambition to mix Daft Punk’s crowd-pleasing yet sophisticated approach to electronica with some of MGMT’s maximalist production and swirling psychedelia.

AR/CO say, “It’s about the perfect person who matches your late night settings. Whether it looks like a sweaty festival or club or mid-week chill - it’s somebody who helps makes the nights into lifelong memories. This song is a shout out to our friends and family! We wrote it in a few hours with Kyle in sunny LA, Nick and Shaun helped us wrap it up. It feels like year long good times to us, so we really wanted to share that.

The London-based duo both have international backgrounds, which further flavours the AR/CO sound. Leo is British with Trinidadian roots which go back to his grandfather, while Mali-Koa was born in Sydney, Australia to a family with Maori heritage before she relocated to the UK. They formed AR/CO during lockdown, making music customised for the unity and togetherness that was so lacking at the time. And as we’ve seen from their recent success, their quest to bring the uplifting vibe really speaks to an ever-expanding audience.

Having also previously worked with Don Diablo, AR/CO’s growing status as go-to collaborators reflects their previous accomplishments outside of the project. As a songwriter and featured artist, Leo Stannard spent seven weeks on Radio 1’s B-list with ‘Cold Light’ by KC Lights, while his other big credits include Camelphat, Michael Calfan and Cat Dealers.  Meanwhile his AR/CO partner, Mali-Koa, has written for artists including G-Eazy (the title track to his platinum-certified US #3 album ‘The Beautiful & Damned’), Sigma and JP Cooper.

Author: Adam Bailey

Adam is a regular contributor for established press release distribution website Release-News.com. He writes on a wide range of topics including music.