A few months after watching the success of their initial remixes turn into over a million views each on YouTube, the somewhat elusive UK production duo Snakehips recently rolled out a handful of new material with the summer vibe in mind. “On & On” takes the repurposed retro R&B sound to a much more refined and accessible place with the addition of George Maple’s throwback vocal style. Where their earlier remixes were aimed at kicking the dust out of your bedroom subwoofer, “On & On” dials back the bass — instead letting the dreamy panned synths take the reigns.
With Snakehips’ composition reflecting an unmistakably cheery tone in terms of melody and instrumentation, George Maple’s lyrics come through as a slightly surprising differentiator once you start putting the words together. “Screaming underneath her skin,” she spends every chorus and verse begging to be free of an agonizingly bad relationship. With different accompaniment, this could have easily turned into something much darker and glum.
Opting for the Daft Punk-esque approach to publicity, Snakehips has so far been able to keep their human identities separate from the music — a move that only adds to the intrigue surrounding what fans should expect to hear from them next. In what little they’ve been giving away about what prospects they’ve been eyeing next for Snakehips, upcoming live shows and more original material are both confirmed in the not-so-distant future.