Flight Facilities' stacked new single Stranded is a tender piece of art

Earlier this year saw the long-awaited return of Flight Facilities, relinking up with past collaborator Emma Louise for the uplifting single Arty Boy. The well-loved Australian electronic duo are presumed to be working on the follow-up to their debut album Down To Earth, which just got a huge hype-bump with the release of Stranded, their guest-stacked new single. The track features New Zealand electronic duo Broods, past collaborator Reggie Watts and LA vocalist Saro on vocals, with Touch Sensitive, Piers Lane and Warpaint's Stella Mozgawa also joining in on the bass, piano and drum arrangements respectively.

In comparison to Arty Boy and much of their previous work, Stranded is a really subtle and tender piece of work, revisiting the soft comfort of the piano-soaked, seven-minute epic Clair De Lune. The soft vocals of Broods' Georgia Nott open things up above a stirring piano melody, which is gradually joined by a loudening string section before Touch Sensitive's signature bass licks come in. Over two minutes, the single gently builds into a crashing climax, which is quickly taken away and re-built again with Reggie Watts' vocals taking the lead instead. When all the teased portions of Stranded's instrumental come together with Watts' vocals – around the four-minute mark – the single transforms into a vibrant and uplifting ballad which is really quite magical.

The single explores a story based on struggle, loyalty and unconditional love, which is further backed-up in the single's video clip. "I trust it’s a common human experience no matter who you are or where you’re from," the video's director, the award-winning Tom Noakes, explains. "A sherman returning from sea, refugee, soldier, explorer or inmate; that singular embrace has the personal significance of a neutron star...To cinematically convey this emotion, I’ve taken the ‘kid being carried to bed,’ metaphor I used before, literally. To reduce a hulking inmate to a weightless child being lifted by his lover." Watch the clip below.

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