The French electronic duo UTO marked their return with the release of a new single titled “Art & Life.” The track offers a glimpse into their upcoming second album, “When All You Want to Do is Be the Fire Part of Fire,” due for release on April 12th via InFiné. By blending pulsating synthesizer lines with dynamic drum rhythms reminiscent of The Chemical Brothers, UTO creates an uplifting, ethereal electronic dance track. The lyrics poetically capture an artist’s quest for creative balance and perfection. This introspective and sonically gripping single sets a high bar for UTO’s anticipated second album and showcases its continuous evolution in the electronic music scene.
UTO describes the new single as a reflection of the two-fold nature of art: “Art sustains you and drives you crazy in about equal doses. It gives your life something to hold on to, but it is unreliable and destabilizing when you are up close. We wander in search of melodies, words, and structures to both fill and undo the imperfections of reality ‘I search for a melody, to repair my search in real life for the right chord I can never find’. We seek a point of equilibrium/tranquillity/peace*, of meaning, of understanding, of the ultimate communion between art & life, but this quest is also a kind of will-o’-the-wisp, a flash in the pan that attracts without satisfying, that illuminates without warming: ‘Remember when you warned me that chasing a will-o’-the-wisp will consume me before it warms me’.”
Their second album, “When all you want to do is be the fire part of fire,” is less of a concept album and more of an exploration of Neysa May Barnett and Emile Larroche’s situation in 2024, not only in their relationship but also in how this relationship is interpreted and perceived in the rest of the world. In this sense, it feels like a counter-statement, addressing the elephant in the room. They explain: “A recurring question in interviews for years has been: ‘What is it like to make music as a couple?’ Even though we understand the legitimacy of the question, we felt that it encroached on our private lives, sometimes to the detriment of our music. It took us years to realize that maybe it is the same thing. That these two aspects of our lives have become inseparable.”
www.instagram.com/uto_itself
fanlink.to/UTO
label @infinemusic
Artwork by @bilou.bil.bil
