LYOD delivers hotly anticipated debut album Forgot How You Dance
The German artist announces his sonic vision with an LP of soulful dance music
Over recent months, Niklas Heidkamp aka LYOD has locked himself in a small cabin by the sea and worked exclusively on new tracks. The result is the German artist’s captivating debut LP, Forgot How You Dance, released to much hype after a string of successful album singles. They include latest cut ‘Ride Alone Again’, featuring an enchanting recording of a Nigerian choir, ‘Fighting For’, a mesmerising fusion of dance and alternative rock featuring Bad Actor's hauntingly captivating vocals, ‘Why Does My Heart’, an exquisite new version of the iconic track ‘Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?’ by Moby, and the plaintive house anthem ‘If You Ever Need A Friend’, which have together hit over two million Spotify streams. The album’s focus track ‘I Got A Dream’ - co-produced by Alexis Troy (RIN, Schmyt, Clueso) - adds a further nuance to LYOD's thoughtful body of work, as its mesmerising vocals blend seamlessly with its stripped back production.
The album’s ten tracks deal with a feeling Niklas has had since his youth: to miss something - without being able to name it clearly. As easy as it is for LYOD to express this feeling through his music, the more difficult it is to put it into words. It can best be described as a love that you imagine in your head, but you know it can't exist like that. Or when you think back to a fleeting but intense encounter and wonder what could have become of it.
Whether you're a fan of dance music, or simply crave a unique sonic experience, Forgot How You Dance will leave an indelible mark on your soul, its raw authenticity delivering emotional resonance on new and deeper levels.
"It has always bothered me that in the past, in most dance songs, hardly any emotions are expressed and the warmth is missing”, LYOD says. “For me it's important that feelings come across and it moves people. Since dance music has opened up so much, you can produce much more freely. Everything is possible and that's what I pursue with my songs."
And for 24-year-old LYOD, whose real name is Niklas Heidkamp and who hails from Cologne, a lot is possible: he was already crafting his first tracks at the age of ten, and last year alone he produced a good dozen songs. Despite his young age, he has already amassed over 35 million streams, released an official remix for Dutch star DJ Sam Feldt and provided the music for the German Google Pixel Campaign with ‘Never Fall’.
"I pay a lot of attention to little details that you often don't hear that way, but that makes it special for me," LYOD explains. Behind this, you can guess, is a lot of work - and it's a testament to LYOD's great talent that you can't hear this in his music at any second. Quite the opposite: it sounds as effortless as a day at the beach.
An electrifying debut album, Forgot How You Dance announces LYOD’s burgeoning talents with a collection of emotionally charged dance grooves that cut straight to the soul.
