“Pretty quickly we realised, for me personally, there’s no one else I’d prefer to write with.”
Bad Hoax’s recent single ‘Let you (late night recording 09.26)’ is a confession of intrusive thoughts that keep you awake on a restless night. Composed of Will Stephenson and Alexandra Nicholas, Bad Hoax is a musical partnership that mirrors their real, interpersonal romantic relationship. In owning their whole sound, from writing, producing, mixing and mastering, the duo create a sonic imprint that alchemises their chemistry into emotional dance music.
On first listen, this song immediately transported me back to a memory of an electric first date. The suddenness of the connection. Running back home to furiously scribble down disparate fantasies, in-cohesive thoughts, dreams and fears sparked from this connection with a Hinge match. All in an effort to expel any of the energy coursing through my mind and body.
In the song, Alex repeats the phrase “kinda, wanna, let you…” her pauses reveal the self-constraint that often pairs desire, before breaking into an uptempo, galloping beat. The vocals contrast the thrumming tech-house production by Will. The urgent sense of sexual fantasy encapsulated. That first-date high.
‘Let You’ is one of many in Bad Hoax’s discography that strikes the perfect balance between deep sombre wells, and the antithetical energy required to release their presence from your being. The result is a sonic space which exists somewhere between dancing and crying, music and feeling.
Words by Yvonne Hong