Ellis & Laura Brehm – Start Over

UK’s house maestro Ellis has just unleashed his brand new track ‘Start Over’, where lighthearted production juxtaposes attention-grabbing lyrics from vocalist and Youtube sensation Laura Brehm. Out now on his very own Essentials imprint, ‘Start Over’ is the perfect summertime tune to belt out and forget about everyday duties. With playful synths and an easy-listening vibe, both artists have put up a tune that represents their aesthetic in a distinctive manner.

Introduced with Brehm’s on-point vocals, the track quickly evolves into an uplifting melodic future bass tune before transforming into a rhythmic dancefloor weapon. Carried by majestic riffs and tight bassline flurries, ‘Start Over’ is a divine feel-good hybrid that requires a healthy measure of dance floor elbow room. Due to the masterful execution of this production, Ellis manages to keep listeners on the edge of their seats throughout the course of the whole piece, which makes the payoff from his tracks’ eventual climax exponentially more satisfying.

Sure to make the grade above all on playlists all around the world, this track can be downloaded right here. While still fresh, it wouldn’t surprise if ‘Start Over’ would be heard throughout the entire summer season. Cutting ahead of their handful of accomplished singles to date, ‘Start Over’ raises the bar for Ellis’ polished sound to take centre stage come 2018 again.

For this very special release, We Rave You had the chance to speak to Ellis and Laura Brehm and have a glimpse inside their creative process of ‘Start Over’.

Ellis, You’ve just released a magnificent new single together with Laura Brehm called ‘Start Over’. What sparked the interest between you two collaborating with each other and what were the inspirations behind the track?

I’ve always loved the dark vibe that Laura brings to EDM, I think it’s so refreshing. Laura had the idea for a track already written and hidden away for a few years. I was instantly inspired by the vocal and knew that I could bring it to life with some electronic influences. Working on the release now together, with Laura also being in the UK atm, it actually grew into a bigger thing. We just recorded an acoustic version both audio and video, to be released in July. For me it has been such an honor to work with such a talented vocalist and musician, it’s been great doing this collab.

Speaking of just that, ‘Start Over’ offers a different side of what avid Ellis fans would expect. Could you tell us what the idea behind this new musical direction was?

The vocal wasn’t something I would typically work with. I tried numerous ideas, but the best result was when I took a different approach to it than I normally would. After about 2 hours of work, I had a solid idea that I absolutely loved! It combines a lot of live elements, which is where my musical-background originally is. Furthermore the title is very symbolic for Laura and myself. Currently I’m having a new start with my branding and musical direction, kind of bringing my love for instruments and house productions closer together, while also slowly building my live shows. And Laura just moved over to the UK to start a music education and pursue her career in music further. For the both of us, this is an exciting time in which we are both sort of starting over, no better way to mark this period in our lives than with this special release.

What does the rest of 2018 hold in store for you? Any hints or clues about the future?

First of all there is lots more exciting releases coming up, some nice originals but also some very exciting remixes. So stay tuned for that. Furthermore, I am hoping to play more live shows this year, and collaborate with some really cool vocalists that I have my eye on. We have some cool stuff lined up, as an artist and also for a new project that I am working on!

Laura, For those of our readers not familiar with you, tell us how your career in EDM started?

I’ve been releasing music since 2006, first as a solo artist. In 2012 I started uploading some of my singer/songwriter material on SoundCloud and began getting messages from EDM producers asking me to sing on their tracks. I hadn’t planned on doing this; but when I tried it I found that I enjoyed it very much. In 2012 I worked with Denver based producer James Egbert as well as TwoThirds and Rogue on Monstercat. These releases sparked the chain of events that have followed since.

Tell us a little bit about your vocal contribution on ‘Start Over’ and teaming up with Ellis.

I wrote “Start Over” acoustically on vocals/guitar a while ago, not really knowing where to place it. When I met Ellis’ manager in London, he heard the song and suggested that Ellis could help out on the production side of things. Ellis his input really brought it to life and created a new dimension, successfully making it the collaborative version it is now. It’s been lovely being able to play the song acoustically with Ellis as well, we can’t wait to show our official acoustic video with the world next month.