San Franciscan producer Charlie Yin, better known as Giraffage, unveiled his extensive ‘Too Real’ European Tour this January and February receiving praise across the spectrum:
““Too Real is its own tribute to digital culture – peppered with the purring cell phone vibrations and the twinkling tones of text messages – but is subtler, sleepier and sexier. With watercolor softness, he blends the whimsical melodies of ’80s Japanese house music (think: Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra and Soichi Terada of Playstation fame) with contemporary R&B to create a sound that’s inextricably modern.” – NPR
“The songs sound personal, sultry, and hopeful.” – FADER
“Brilliant pop sounds.” – Billboard
“It’s a marvellous return, a creative, otherworldly return, fusing his nascent electronics with a myriad of other sounds.” – Clash
The tour follows the American’s recently completed 30-date North America tour. Giraffage’s 2018 European Tour saw the producer play various dates across the UK, as well as Netherlands, Italy and many more, across January and February, performing at iconic venues such as London’s Jazz Cafe, and Thekla in Bristol.
In celebration, he shared his dazzling new track from the project, “Slowly” featuring New York-based producer Matosic. Created over the span of two years and recorded entirely in his bedroom in San Francisco, the album chronicles the producers personal journey of self healing, with each song representing a different period in his life. It’s lined with his unique blend of kaleidoscopic beats, dreamy synth-pop and R&B melodies, and features artists Japanese Breakfast, Body Language’s Angelica Bess and more.
The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Giraffage thrust himself into music at an early age, a stark deviation from his cultural expectations. He quickly skyrocketed from just being a household name amongst blogs to playing some the world’s biggest music festivals with his signature remixes of R&B favorites that exploded online. In 2014, he released his breakout project by revamping The-Dream’s Love/Hate in its entirety and it quickly solidified his position as one of the most promising young producers in the game. He followed it up with his acclaimed NO REASON EP later that year and most recently his collaboration on “Bring Me Your Love” with Thea that has amassed millions of plays online.
“‘Slowly’ was one of the first songs I wrote for the new album. I spent a lot of time writing and scrapping various other songs/ideas but ‘Slowly’ was the first one to click and in turn it helped inform the rest of the album. This is the first time I’ve worked extensively with vocalists and I think that collaborative aspect led to some of the best music I’ve ever written. This album was written from 2015 – 2017 during a dark period of my life. So finally finishing it was a rather cathartic experience and I’m excited for what the future may hold.”
The tour follows his last European schedule in 2016, as well as previous dates supporting the likes of Porter Robinson, XXYYXX and Flume. This time, Giraffage will be supported by the hotly tipped US duo Hotel Garuda.
Inspired by groundbreaking acts as Yellow Magic Orchestra, Haruomi Hosono, Soichi Terada, Interpol, and Radiohead, Giraffage’s recent ‘Too Real’ album was the subject of much critical acclaim, with the American combining soft builds with a combination of piano chords, and bass-backed electro synths .
‘Too Real’ acts as an embodiment of the producer’s personal journey of self healing, with each song representing a different period in his life, with Yin adding:
“‘This is some of the best music I’ve ever written. The album was written from 2015 – 2017 during a dark period of my life. So finally finishing it was a rather cathartic experience and I’m excited for what the future may hold.”
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