Experimental pop producer Sloane premieres the music video for “Old Hands New Face” on CelebMix. “Old Hands New Face” is from Sloane’s forthcoming EP, Music To Cry To While You Smile.
The song’s genesis took shape in the pain of heartbreak, the subsequent despondency, and the existential questions that followed: why am I here? Who am I? What do I believe?
Music proved to be the healing balm. After months of slow recovery, Sloane began working on songs created to alleviate the emotional pain of others. Blending synths, samplers, guitars, and voice modulators, he crafted “music to cry to while you smile.”
The former music director for artists such as Pharrell, Slash, Bruno Mars, and others, “Old Hands New Face” is Sloane’s debut single. The song is already making an impact, gracing more than 25 playlists, with more than 14,000 streams in just a few days.
Sloane’s unique sound amalgamates state-of-the-art electronic music with the stylish freshness of modern pop. The result is music full of hints of melancholy for what might have been, serenity for what is, and expectant happiness for what will be, because he’s ever evolving, becoming more and more free and trans-human.
“Old Hands New Face” opens on emerging gentle colors and shifting vocals flowing into a trap-lite rhythm rife with pop progressive patterns. The song is vaguely reminiscent of Twenty One Pilots, but creamier and more evocative, more nuanced and elusive.
Subtle echoes, shimmering delays, and silky oozing harmonics infuse the tune with tantalizing textures and burnished surface hues. The juxtaposition of Sloane’s dulcet, whispery tones with the sylph-like timbres of the female voice provides two distinct sonic flavors, complementary and reflective.
The suffusing wash of the synths along with sparkling, gleaming accents imbues the tune with wisps of recollection even as the lyrics deliver a commitment which cannot be disrupted.
“I can’t see you, I can’t feel you ‘cause I’m changing.”
The video is both surreal and transformative, depicting Sloan’s pixelated visage on a phone screen, while the inset of his paramour finances the definition of reality, and what’s to come.
“Old Hands New Face” is superbly delicious, innovative, and emotionally beguiling. Alluring harmonics and velvety vocals are off-the-chain irresistible.