Kygo welcomes his newest era on two-sided single with James Gillespie, ‘Gone Are The Days’

by: Ross Goldenberg Apr 16, 2021

It’s surreal to process that Golden Hour is approaching its one-year anniversary, but before Kygo observes his third album’s first full revolution around the sun, he’s inducting “a new chapter of music.” Despite there being no deficit of Kygo activity in the year that would follow one of Dancing Astronaut’s Top Electronic Albums of 2020, between its coinciding virtual festival, a duo of nostalgic remodels, and his recent, breathtaking Sunnmøre Alps stream, Kygo made sure to double check that tropical house heads were still paying attention before making the single’s disclosure, jokingly requesting a minimum of 10 Instagram comments. Most didn’t even have a chance to count before that requirement was fulfilled, and Kygo now holds true to his word with the delivery of “Gone Are The Days” in two alternate forms.

Kygo’s first true original since his Golden Hour epoch, if we choose not to tally his back-to-back adaptations of timeless classics, admittedly falls on the unexpected end when looking back through the tropical house icon’s foregoing work. Walking down a cinematic avenue beside the glowing vocal backing of James Gillespie, the main “Gone Are The Days” reading sees Kygo directly tap into his orchestral credentials that could very well make for the stepping stones to an eventual trifle in film scoring.

If one empyreal version wasn’t enough, Kygo supplements “Gone Are The Days” with a pure piano-driven rendition, subbing out Gillespie’s vocals to rawly reimagine the original and further support our forecast that a journey from the DJ booth to the big screen isn’t too far-fetched. Kygo acknowledged that a return to his “Piano Jam” days had always remained on his to-do list, saying “many of you have been asking me to release more piano songs, so I really hope you’ll enjoy this one!”

Stream both versions of “Gone Are The Days” below.