Chromeo: Don't Sleep
Dave 1 and P-Thugg deliver another infectious slab of electro-funk on this new single. Enlivened by guest vocal turns from French Montana and Stefflon Don, the track is complemented with an entertaining video with a neat gender twist.
By Kerry Doole
Chromeo - "Don't Sleep" (Last Gang): This is the latest single and video from Head Over Heels, the fifth album from the Montreal funk duo. Its release coincides with the news that the record just earned a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
Produced by Chromeo and legendary R&B producer, Rodney Jerkins, "Don't Sleep" is another infectious piece of modern electro-funk. It is enlivened by vocal features from Stefflon Don and French Montana, who trade verses in free-spirited fashion.
The cut is perfectly complemented with an entertaining video clip starring actress Robin Givens (Riverdale, The Bold and the Beautiful). It is directed by Allie Avital (serpentwithfeet, Moses Sumney), who explains in a press release that ‘Don’t Sleep’ is a 2018 satire for the age of dissatisfaction; the age of overstimulation and Tinder. Robin Givens plays a version of the ‘sad king,’ where the more pampered and entertained she is, the more disaffected she becomes. All the bulging biceps, sponge baths, and lap dances can’t cure her existential void.”
The video features Givens overseeing a male harem, an intriguing gender twist. Avital notes that “Harems are historically reserved for men, and music videos have a long history of ornamental ‘video girls,’ so I wanted to flip both of those narratives. The video was directed and produced by a team of women, which gave the shoot a funny, meta dimension."
Chromeo has a series of US DJ gigs this month. Details here
Links
Publicity: Amanda McCauley, Indoor Recess
L-R: Jude Coombe, Susan de Cartier (Blue Rodeo - manager), Madelaine Napoleone, Julia Hummel, Colin Cripps (Blue Rodeo), Ken Boyer, Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo), Eric Wong, Greg Keelor (Blue Rodeo), Jim Bowskill, Michael Boguski (Blue Rodeo), Dave Stelling, Bazil Donovan (Blue Rodeo), Glenn Milchem ( (Blue Rodeo), Danelle Schiele Warner Music Canada