“Affection” by Andre Unknown

Indie-electronica is the most straight-forward way to sum up Andre Unknown’s latest track but, venturing beyond genre, it’s clear there’s a lot more going on. Starting out with vocals, Andre experiments with an eclectic mix of human and machine sounds, at times raw, and otherwise, entirely digital: rasterised, spliced and mixed. He draws influence from anything and everything, from dirty white shoes and traffic lights to overheard conversations, which shows in his distinctive choice of samples. The track’s artificial feel is juxtaposed by the all-too-human nature of the lyrics, which delve into themes of loneliness and solitude, as he explores being excluded from his social circle. 

Andre Unknown’s existence is equally as multifaceted as “Affection”. He’s a keyboard player, singer, and designer, and creates his music using a self-made app, a self-produced process, and a range of diverse collaborators. For this tune, he teamed up with Vic Delnur for the production, whom he met on a trip to New York. 

Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Andre would frequently trek to NYC to catch up with his US-based Brazillian pals. It would be on one of these trips that the artist would become acquainted with Vic, which has now blossomed into a close friendship and important creative collaboration. The two worked together on Andre’s previous “Truce” and “Inches”, leading them to their latest, “Affection”, which even features Delnur’s father Victor Chicri.