Taken from their acclaimed eponymous album, Portico Quartet, released in January on RealWorld, Steepless is the band’s first vocal collaboration and features the East London based Swedish singer, Cornelia, who the band met through their friend Jamie Woon. Cornelia had been working with Circe Traps and the band were drawn to her unique voice and songs. The birth of Steepless happened when the band sent her some musical ideas to work with and the lyrics came to Cornelia one drizzly afternoon in Clapton when she went out for a walk to clear her head “Not long ago, my grandfather had passed away and I felt a bit weary emotionally. I believe that both the melody and the lyrics came to me as a sign of hope in midst of all the darkness, and I remember how I was singing the melody into my phone on my way home as the rain tapped against my forehead.” Cornelia played the resulting untitled song to the band and the final version of Steepless was created live in the studio by the band and Cornelia as they created a powerful new dialogue together, something that turned out 100% true to their own sound as well as Cornelia’s own vision.

The four track single features a new radio edit of Steepless done by the band themselves as well as a mix by London electronica artists Capac. An enigmatic re-interpretation of the tune, Capac’s mix was the band’s favourite from over 200 entries to the band’s Soundcloud remix competition in February. Also featured on the single are two new mixes of the darkly hypnotic Laker Boo (another stand out from their recent album), one from Hyper Dub signed Rinse FM DJ Scratcha DVA bringing his unique take on UK bass music to the party and one from noted Berlin house producer and Berghain DJ Luca Lozano who takes the track to the dance floor with a deep house mix.

Portico Quartet play The Roundhouse on October 18th with support from Brainfeeder/Ninja Tune artist Taylor McFerrin and LV (dj set) who remixed the band’s City of Glass in February.