The AR/CO creative universe is a fantastical vision of a futuristic desert rave, their pulsating, psychedelic dance-pop the soundtrack to a society ruled by life, love and liberation. And that imagination is winning the imagination of fans in the real world, their early career highlights including big collabs including Don Diablo, The Stickmen Project and Franky Wah; unforgettable live moments with Sub Focus, Kygo and 5 Seconds of Summer; and even a Grammy Award nomination for their Kx5 feature and co-write / co-production ‘Bright Lights’.
Now AR/CO complete the foundations for the first era of their career by sharing their debut EP ‘Origin Stories’. It compiles five of their biggest singles to date and is completed by the new focus track ‘BOYS LIKE GIRLS’. Those existing tracks have fired them past 3 million monthly listeners at Spotify, including 15 million streams of ‘Night Feels’. Listen HERE.
AR/CO say, “‘Origin Stories’ was our chance to let people head-dive straight into the enigmatic and wonky world of AR/CO. It’s crazy that we had ideas of this planet where everything was set, to call it AR/CO and build a whole project around it. This EP is us swinging those doors wide open and saying come and hang with us in this place where the music is great and we’re all in it for a good time.
The music on the EP is a capsule collection of songs that we wrote from a place of innocence and creativity through the lockdown, the ideas are inspired and fresh and we know people will fall in love with the place where we rediscovered our passion for music and creativity. Earth is now, AR/CO is forever.”
Whether you’re already a fan of AR/CO’s previous euphoric anthems such as ‘Night Feels’ and ‘Call Me By My Name’ or are entirely new to their imaginative and escapist sounds, the new track ‘BOYS LIKE GIRLS’ is a captivating addition to their growing discography. It’s a track that captures the essence of AR/CO: party vibes, effervescent energy and sweet duelling vocals which fires the dance-pop genre thrilling into the next century.
Mali-Koa adds, “‘BOYS LIKE GIRLS’ was the third song we wrote in a day. Those last minute ideas where you’re tired or hungry can sometimes be so inspired because of how quickly they come. There’s more flow. We always joke about how it’s the 15-minute idea that takes two years to finish, but it was so worth it. It’s such an instant classic, it’s a twist to some of the stuff that came before and one for the girls (and boys) who just wanna have fun.”
Coming from polar opposites on the planet, Mali-Koa (Sydney) and AR/CO partner Leo Stannard (Leicester) started their own individual adventures in music before they met at a writing session. They intended to reconnect, but the pandemic had other ideas – yet undeterred, they spent hours-upon-hours collaborating via Zoom, not only writing songs but imagining an entire world that their music could inhabit. Together, they realised that they loved their new project more than anything they had worked on before. And that was the genesis of AR/CO.
As the world gradually returned to normal, AR/CO’s was changed forever. Landmark moments kept coming: Radio 1 play; two Capital Dance playlists; support from Apple Music 1 / Elton John’s Rocket Hour; mounting acclaim; a sold-out headline tour; a Radio 1 Skyline Session with Franky Wah; hitting Radio 1’s Big Weekend with Sub Focus; a Billboard Music Award nomination for their Tiёsto collab ‘Back Around’; significant international progress, particularly in Germany and Italy; and numerous other collaborations including 220 KID, Hayden James, Will Clarke and Jaded.
So those are AR/CO’s ‘Origin Stories’. AR/CO season two is coming soon.
‘Origin Stories’ EP tracklist:
1. ‘Night Feels’
2. ‘Cherry Lips’
3. ‘BOYS LIKE GIRLS’
4. ‘Call Me By My Name’
5. ‘Move’
6. ‘All Over The World’
