After being announced by his manager on Instagram, Avicii has released his new EP The Days / Nights featuring two tracks that have already been previewed and two new remixes from Swedish producer Henrik B and German producer Felix Jaehn.
"The Days" was already released as a single in October and "The Nights" was included in the FIFA 15 soundtrack but never saw an official release besides a Spotify stream. Now "The Nights" is available on all portals with its opposing partner in addition to two added remixes from artists Avicii has been keen on.
"The Days" and "The Nights" continue down the road that Avicii has paved for himself with "Wake Me Up," managing to merge country, folk and EDM. Tabbing U.K. heavyweight singer and former Take That frontman Robbie Williams on "The Days," Avicii delivers his folksiest track to date next to "Hey Brother."
"The Nights" follows the same vein, but veers more electronic with cheery, pitched synth melodies under the vocals of Swedish DJ favorite Salem Al Fakir. The song encourages its listeners to live every day like it is your last, a message probably lost on most for those people glued to their television screen playing FIFA 15.
Fakir belts out in the chorus"
One day my father — he told me,
"Son, don't let it slip away."
He took me in his arms, I heard him say,
"When you get older,
Your wild life will live for younger days.
Think of me if ever you're afraid."
He said, "One day you'll leave this world behind
So live a life you will remember."
A signee to Avicii's label PRMD, Henrik B kicks off the two remixes on the EP, delivering his own take on "The Days." He starts off with a disco-inspired bass line to switch up the intro before rebuilding the melody in his own vision, largely eliminating the rock and folk reference points that Avicii has left behind.
Felix Jaehn adds an interesting twist on "The Nights," keeping much of the original structure but stripping back many of the melodic elements. He works around the vocals and folksy guitar, but cuts away the Avicii synths for his own xylophone progression.
The full shift toward using guitars in his songs appears to be complete for Avicii, appearing as what will be the next evolution for the Swedish disc jockey superstar, who is always looking to try and innovate his sound. Avicii just released his collaboration alongside Wyclef Jean titled "Divine Sorrow" for World AIDS Day in conjunction with (RED) and is looking to release the follow-up to his 2013 album True in 2015.
He spoke to Rolling Stone about the album that will feature artists like Chris Martin, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joe Armstrong and Serj Tankian of System of a Down.
"It's going to be a lot more song-oriented," Bergling declares of the album. "True was an attempt at that, getting electronic music in a song format."
Avicii before he took time off from touring played out a lot of unreleased music, as he normally does, that could be from the album, though the constant perfectionist, it remains to be seen what makes the final cut and how each song will sound like in their final form.
He gets back to touring in 2015 by joining the Australian and Asian legs of the Future Music Festival tours at the end of February into the middle of March alongside some of the biggest names in music like Drake and The Prodigy.
Stream the EP on Spotify below or download the songs on Beatport or iTunes.
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