If you haven’t already immersed yourself in OMM, the incredibly sultry new single from RAYN, stop what you’re doing and go listen to it now. The song carries an effortless charisma that is guaranteed to hook you in and leave you hanging on each word.
So fresh off the track’s release, we caught up with RAYN for a playlist of tracks that influenced her irresistible sound. Take it away, RAYN…
Fresh off the release of her latest single OMM, we caught up with Sydney-based singer-songwriter RAYN for a playlist of tunes that influenced her sound.
Gallant – Bourbon
I fell in love with this song the minute I heard it. The ability to be able to create a mood with sound is quite remarkable, my all time favourite songs do exactly that. A devastatingly beautiful song about a ‘cold’ relationship and although we’ve heard it before his creativity, lyrically and melodically, really sweeps you away to a place I’m not sure many have been to. We tried to capture some of the sparse instrumentation, the kind of balance between ‘pretty’ and ‘sad’ when creating OMM.
Maxwell – Lake by the Ocean
“Being content in a lake when you have an entire ocean near you is the epitome of true happiness.” – Maxwell
I’ve always been a fan of Maxwell, another musical genius who creates such a mood with his music. J4 played me this song in the studio and it got me so excited to create new music. I love the finesse Maxwell possesses, the marriage between instrument and voice. He always manages to express so much sexuality and emotion in his music, it kind of leaves you intrigued.
Nao – Girlfriend
Nao has to be one of my favourite artists of all time. An incredible artist who does everything I love about 90’s R&B but has completely shaken up the game by creating this wonky funk type sound. So much harmony, so much soul… That tone can do no harm. The songwriting is effortless, I love how creative the production is but the track has so much room to breathe. That is difficult to do.
Miguel – Waves
We used this track as a reference for our mix engineer ‘MaddMix’. The way the vocals are treated in the chorus especially is what we heard for OMM. The mix was so important to us with this song as we didn’t want it to come across to soft or delicate. We really wanted to capture the confidence and edge, the balance between ‘lush’ and ‘dirty’.
Mariah Carey – The Roof
I was heavily influenced by Mariah Carey growing up and OMM actually started out as a 90’s R&B slow jam. Once I sent it to J4 he put some pop chords underneath it and we just ran with it from there. We are both pretty visual when we write, so we imagined driving down a long stretch of road in the Nevada dessert somewhere with the roof off having someone ‘On my mind’…
Usher – Crash
The harmonies, vocal phrasing, the partnership of aggressive bass & lush vocals… this is what I think makes a great song; elements of the opposite. Usher just making simple look easy. I mean….
Katy Perry – Wide Awake
We used this song to figure some of the production at the end of the songwriting process. Katy Perry really changed Pop music around this time. The vocal is so far in front in the mix, with the production continually growing until the end. The expansive effect this has on your ears is amazing.
