Bob Moses team up with ZHU for new single Desire, announce new concept record

Header image by Lucas Mk.

When it comes to current-day dance music's defining acts, Bob Moses are up towards the top. While the Canadian-based duo aren't as commercially recognised in Australia as some of their comparables, the pairing of Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance were significant in the blossoming of this 'band approach' to dance music on the live stages; a key in electronic music's gradual shift from DJ culture to fleshed-out live shows, alongside acts like ODESZA and our own RUFUS DU SOL.

As significant as that is, however, it's only the start of Bob Moses' long list of achievements. They're one of the only dance acts to be GRAMMY Award winners (they won a GRAMMY in 'best remixed recording, non-classical' for a remix of RAC's Tearing Me Up a few years back), and are a group often mentioned when questioning new-rising dance acts from the States about their long list of influences; something that shows - in a way - through the list of artists that stepped up to remix their latest record Battle Lines: Cassian, Hayden James, DJ Tennis, FaltyDL and the list goes on.

They've also mastered the art of the notoriously difficult dance music album, and with what they have planned for the remainder of the year, it's clear they're going to continue to push the boundaries of this format, and adapt it to a new time that sees people constantly looking for something distinct and unique. Today, they announce Desire, a new longer-format release that's partly a concept record, and partly an opportunity for Bob Moses to expand on their craft and show how they've continued to evolve over the years, both as musicians and as people that are recognised for pushing boundaries within electronic music.

It's a continuously mixed record (meaning the songs mix into each other with smooth transitions) that according to the duo, tell a tale of technology-built love in the digital age; the highs and lows of the world's relationship with technology mapped out through spiralling dance music that much like the rest of Bob Moses' discography, is sure to be on another level. "Desire can become quite destructive if you're not self-aware," they say on the record, which arrives August 28th. "With this record, we’re trying to be self-aware by looking at our own desires and reckoning with them.

"Stories about desire are timeless: Icarus flying too close to the sun and ending up falling to his death…that idea inspired the falling man on the album cover. That symbolized to us how desire can lead to a downfall."

The record is teased with its first taste and title-track, which sees the duo link up with another revolutionary name in modern-day dance music - ZHU. Desire is a pulsing four-minutes that sets the tone of what's to come, driving Bob Moses' sound into a darker, brooding direction as the obvious edge of ZHU makes itself known. It's dark and paceful, with switching vocals holding stay amongst a fluttering production underneath that's thick with bursts of synth and pacing percussion, unlike much of Bob Moses' work thus far but still distinct with their natural charm and energy.

The single arrives with an interactive video you can check out below (as well as the YouTube upload of the video), and news that Bob Moses will be joining ZHU's Blacklizt project for a B2B set as part of Insomniac’s Factory 93 Secret Project Livestream this Saturday, July 18 at 10AM AEST / 8AM AWST. In the meantime, take a dive into Desire below and pre-order the record here.