Collaborations are best when they're equal, and ZHU seems to have a tight hand on that scheme. His tune "Live My Life" perfectly melted his dark funk style into Tame Impala's psychedelic splendor, and now, he finds a fresh way to get dirty with Grammy-nominated electro-pop duo Sofi Tukker on a devious little bit of danceable dirt called "Mi Rumba."
"We really love Zhu's style of production," Sofi Tukker says in a joint statement. "When we walked into the studio, we didn't have anything specific in mind, and we didn't know what to expect, but the collaboration happened really naturally. We were laughing and dancing the whole time. It was also really fun to talk to ZHU about electronic music in general. While our sounds are definitely distinct, we have a lot in common, in how much we love dance music. It was fun to make a sort of dirty/cheeky song. It definitely shows our personalities."
"Mi Rumba" folds Sofi Tukker's tropical-tinged playfulness right into ZHU's smoky, guitar-laden sonics. It's a naughty number that tells the lyrical tale of one who is completely obsessed with the physical possession of another. That fun in the studio burns through each note. You can practically see singer Sophie Hawley-Weld's devious smile. The fun continued, too, when it came time to design the single relese.
"We ended up making the album art backstage at a venue in Dublin called Whelans," the duo continues. "We just happened to overlap that day and be in the same city at the same time. It is one of the best venues ever. Zhu came by, and we did a little photoshoot in the bathroom stalls."
The song is paired with an animotion clip on YouTube, though we'd love to see these styles come to life with a visual. Get in the groove with "Mi Rumba" below.