Since the age of fourteen, London based Kiyon Samavat, better known as Kiks, has been involved in a plethora of respectable musical endeavors. After picking up the guitar at twelve years old and being highly influenced by the iconic Fleetwood Mac, he’s done songwriting and producing for pop and indie rock genre. While we don’t know where those projects are we can disclose now, at twenty years young, he’s found a heart and home in the ever growing house music scene.
Just three songs have officially been released by Samavat, including the debut track “Slow” which features vocalist Amber Clara, who enchantingly lives down the road from him. The song initially builds up with mid to high range sounding percussive instrumentation before the filter technique is slowly rolled off around the fifth bar. From there, an infectious synth-bass line drives it’s beginnings before a main melodic lead temporarily breaks off into a solo and brings all of the parts together.
It’s a blazing dance track with a unique pop feel at it’s core. Being featured on a short film entitled Dirty Secret, the track contains standard vocal manipulations, quantized stutters, and repeated phrasing that flourish through the song’s duration. Subtle dubstep influences are also present throughout it’s extent, but always finds it’s way back into it’s quaint four-to-the-floor thumping track.
While the instrumentation and number of synthesizers of “Slow” don’t seem to account for too many tracks in the overall session, if you take into consideration the amount of different sections the song contains and break them down both by their number of instruments in a given portion, then add in all of the effects, you can truly see that a lot of work went into this piece of music. It sits at a modest 5db of Dynamic Range according to the TT Loudness Reader and never clips once in the mix. Honorable in a land that a couple of years ago thrived with musicians pushing the limits of their music and squashing the life out of their songs.
Also on Kiks plate is his interest in synthesizer work. In an early press release, he proclaims he’s been learning on his main Digital-Audio-Workspace Logic Pro and reveals “I started making my own presets on synths such as Sylenth and Logic’s ES2 and making my own drum samples was when the creativity really started flowing.”
With that being said, it’s no surprise that with the release of his second track “Tell Her” contains a busy percussion beat that subtly changes periodically through the song. It’s also creates a sensationally complex stereo image.
Clara delivers a standard female dance vocalist vibe, with a delay freely wandering through her tracks. Lyrically, it’s emotionally instant in the way a pop song attentively grabs the listener. The two deliver an effective jam in it’s wave of phrases beginning fittingly enough with the words tell her that stagger between lines of love and lines of betrayal and endearment lost.
“Tell her in the summer, tell her what she wants to hear.
Tell her that you love her, you don’t know what you mean to her.
Tell her that you’re sorry, tell her bout the girls you kissed.
Tell her in the summer, you don’t know what you do to her.”
What we don’t hear too much about in the world of Electronic Dance Music and why we enjoy Kiks (who is very handsome) as much as we do is his emphasis on the approach to the songwriting process itself. Speaking on lyrics, Kiks mentions “I usually write most of my songs on the guitar and then sit down and try and convert it into a Logic project. My number one priority in every track I make is to have a catchy vocal hook. Those make or break songs and if I haven’t written a vocal line that sticks in my head and drives me crazy, then the song needs more work.”
Also in the works, is a moombahton influenced remix of the Flo Rida and Sia “Wild Ones”. While it’s unofficial, we’re on the edge of our seat to hear how this re-work pans out!
Follow Kiks on his official Twitter and head on over to hear more music over at his Soundcloud page where you can hear a devilishly moody Refix of Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep,” and check out his latest release “Tell Her” featured below.
All music released under the Kiks alias is located via his official YouTube channel.
2020k 