Johnny Burgos teams with Yellow Shoots on psychedelic burner, ‘Fun Tonight’
Johnny Burgos and Greg Matthews, better known as Yellow Shoots, have joined forces on new collaboration, “Fun Tonight.” Deriving from Burgos upcoming studio album, Falling into Place, the R&B crossover finds the two Brooklyn-based acts exercise sleek chemistry, with nostalgic groove and smooth tonalities taking centerstage. A result of three on-and-off working years, the tune marries danceability with soul. On the track coming together, Burgos states,
“For ‘Fun Tonight,’ Greg initially played me an idea that was really different from what the song evolved into, minus the groove and tempo, which is what caught my attention the most. The pocket of the driving beat made me nostalgic for a crowded room full of good vibes, with music bumpin and people moving in synchronicity to the beat. Once Greg hit it with the sexy chords, I just started to imagine this encounter with the woman so beautiful that it’s hard for me to keep my cool. In the song I play out this scenario where I persevere to win her heart by simply being myself and showing her a good ol’ fashioned fun night out on the town.”
“Sonically, Greg and I took the song through a few phases, finally landing on an even mix of organic and synth tones that created a funky and feel good foundation for the vocals. At some point in the collaboration process, Greg picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing these really dope licks that had a latin feel to them, which immediately triggered my rhythmic instincts — so I laid down some bongos and shakers. As it continued in that direction, we decided to go with electric bass over the existing synth bass, which inspired the latin feel to the verse bassline as well. Percussionist and drummer added the finishing touch with live hi hats. Overall the groove is really danceable, the lyrics are easy to sing along with and it borrows from both classic and modern approaches to a lot of our favorite genres.”
Meticulous layers of acoustic guitar riffs and rhythmic bass provide the sultry soundbed for soulfully raw vocal delivery—the alternative cut unfolding with each moving branch of instrumentation. Warm synths introduce colorful dimension into the production, additionally outlined by psychedelia-juiced guitar licks. Charting Matthews’ first stab at the specific niche, he relays,
“This is really one of the first mid tempo dance tunes I’ve produced – so it was cool to bring some of my previous guitar styles into play and looking forward to making more music like this soon.”
Categories: Music