The Desert unveil their debut single ‘Just Get High’, the first track from their forthcoming debut EP called Playing Dead.
The Desert is a collaboration between singer-songwriter Gina Leonard and guitarist & producer Tom Fryer. Tom’s atmospheric production style which plays with big spaces and other worldly sounds, lives in the space between Gina’s honest and poetic lyrics, allowing her songs to shine that little bit brighter. We have the premiere of the video for ‘Just Get High’ their debut single. Spacious and sultry an undulating electro-beat contrasts with Gina’s reticent vocal yet haunting delivery. With echoes of everyone from the smart down tempo pop of Everything but the Girl to the luxurious meditations of Lana Del Rey, this is an affecting introduction to their cinematic pop sound and the soundtrack summer comedowns. Originally intended to be a demo recorded late one night in Gina’s bedroom, Tom time-stretched it into shape and made a kind of down-tempo house beat for it, with a synthesiser part that grows to dominate and take over the whole track. The video is similarly
The pair first met at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2014 where Gina played a set for The People’s Front Room, a collective that Tom is a part of. Tom went on to record and produce a few of Gina’s tracks, however, it wasn’t until late 2016 that The Desert officially came together to write and record their first collection of songs.
‘I find it difficult working with other people, it has always just been me and my guitar behind closed doors.’ Gina explains. ‘It was so exciting to find someone I could trust to develop my songs with. We’re pretty different but we work well together’
