Plucked from The Twilight Saga’s OST, 2014’s ‘Heart Of Stone’ from English indie-rockers
IKO was filtered to club floors globally through the remixing hands of Pure Trance chieftain
Solarstone. The Devonshire two-piece’s first brush with the electronic music scene, it was a
interpretation that won wide praise from fans, media and DJs alike.

Now, a year and a month on, Solarstone and IKO (Kieran Scragg & Neil Reed) are back working
together again, albeit this time in a full-blown production collaboration capacity. ‘Once’
channels together the power of the three, into a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts outing.
Its result is a floor-mover, with alchemic qualities, not least the lament of its affecting and
profoundly thought-provoking vocals.

The Beatport pick-up here: pro.beatport.com/release/once/1548735

With ‘Shield’, Solarstone has already banged the singles drum pretty damn hard in 2015.
“Epic, elegant, and with movements that recall the immortal ‘Seven Cities’” said DJMagItalia,
who went to trumpet it as the work of “a real musician”. Scoring it an impressive 8/10 meanwhile,
the UK edition of DJ Mag said: “you won’t be able to miss just how much supreme ingenuity’s
gone into ‘Shield’”, something that clearly wasn’t lost on DJs, as the track took up residency
in their sets & playlists.

Now, for his first summer action of 2015, Solarstone is back, this time side-by-side in the studio
with indie-rock combo IKO. Folding multiple elements of Neil’s instrumentation into the frisson
club energy or his Pure Mix, they develop ‘Once’s extraordinary lucence through Kieran’s
bittersweet song and unflinchingly incisive lyrics.

Tracklist

01: Solarstone & IKO – Once (Pure Remix)

solarstone.co.uk
twitter.com/richsolarstone
facebook.com/solarstonefanpage
soundcloud.com/solarstone

ikomusic.com
twitter.com/ikomusic
facebook.com/ikoGB
instagram.com/ikoGB

blackholerecordings.com
soundcloud.com/blackholerecordings

Once for ‘Once’ was never going to be near enough!

With his own ‘Pure Mix’ scaling sales charts, assailing radio playlists and grafting hard
on floors for DJs including Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Aly & Fila and Markus Schulz,
Solarstone opens up two new mix-fronts for ‘Once’.

Everyone’s favourite trucker-cap-wearing trance-master Alex M.O.R.P.H. has put his
studio boxes into overdrive, bringing an even clubbier angle to the single. Solarstone’s
‘Once’ collaborators’ IKO have also taken the track back into the studio themselves,
to work on a variation cast in their own inimitable, standout style.

(Out Through Black Hole Recordings via Beatport on August 10th)

The ‘Once’ Remix Beatport pick-up here: pro.beatport.com/release/once-remixes/1577011

The mighty Mr. M.O.R.P.H. wastes no time putting ‘Once’ above the rim, delivering
a floor-delighting slam-dunk of a mix. DJ Mag scored it an impressive 8/10, noting the
German producer “bookends (IKO vocalist) Kieran Scragg’s bittersweet refrains” with
“panning sub-melodies, heavily delayed/effected harmonic piano and sprinting bass”.
The mag concludes that with “touch-paper lit, it only takes some visceral 303 to set the
whole mix off!”

IKO meanwhile bring ‘Once’ a complete stylistic ‘mix 180°’. Taking Kieran’s authentic,
affecting, living, breathing vocals, they give it a downtempo, soundtrack-worthy modification.
Building from slow-mo break-beats and meditative piano notes, they deliberately, brilliantly
raise its drama through shuffling percussion, live instrumentation, filmic sequencing and, finally,
divinely uplifting chords.

Tracklist

01: Solarstone & IKO – Once (Alex M.O.R.P.H. Remix)
02: Solarstone & IKO – Once (IKO Remix)

solarstone.co.uk
twitter.com/richsolarstone
facebook.com/solarstonefanpage
soundcloud.com/solarstone

ikomusic.com
twitter.com/ikomusic
facebook.com/ikoGB
instagram.com/ikoGB

blackholerecordings.com
soundcloud.com/blackholerecordings