London house duo Billon have announced their next single ‘Special’, featuring Maxine Ashley, which is forthcoming on Rinse. A moody, soulful dancefloor anthem that crackles with summer evening atmosphere, it’s the latest in their run of releases for Rinse and the follow up to this year’s Meditate EP.
Since forming in 2013 Billon, the duo of Ed Butler and Robbie Lamond, have attracted growing acclaim for their dense and melody saturated club tracks, which lend a rough, sub-loaded edge to classic house and UK garage influences. ‘Special’ is the first time that the duo have taken that dancefloor approach, which has proved potent firepower in the hands of DJs including Annie Mac, Skream, Oneman, Lee Foss, Mistajam, and MK, putting it to the service of a soaring vocal track. The duo have also recently lent their hand to a number of juggernaut hits, remixing Route 94, Kiesza, Ella Eyre and Wanklemut & Emma Louise.
Brooklyn’s Maxine Ashley, who has recently been working with Pharrell Williams, is the crucial presence at ‘Special’s core. Her incandescent vocal wraps around fluorescent synth-lines, all drawing the music along in a dizzying game of tension and release. It’s that push and pull between darkness and light that lends the song its electrifying charge, and makes it feel equally at home on daytime dancefloors or in peak-time at a club.
