Producer-Artist ATTLAS and Songwriter Richard Walters form Sun Lo; Sign to Nettwerk
November 18, 2022 BY Jason Currell
Today, Canadian electronic artist/producer Jeff Hartford aka ATTLAS and British songwriter/vocalist Richard Walters officially unveil their new collaboration, Sun Lo. The duo joins Nettwerk and releases their debut single “Factory Gates.” Despite never meeting in person, the duo formed a fast friendship online that soon evolved into a musical collaboration. Ironically, the new project addresses themes of technology and it’s influence on human connections. The urgent pianos and textured synths eb and flow under Walters’ soaring, cinematic lyricism and build to the poignant line: If I could just escape this room.
Listen to “Factory Gates” on all digital retailers (here).
Richard Walters explains the meaning behind the song:
“It’s a song about hope, personal growth and free-will; the choices we make to become better people and create new environments where we can thrive, our willingness to escape and change”
The accompanying music video is a gorgeous animation directed by Jordan Martin and features space age imagery, futuristic interpretations of AI technology, and faces morphing into one. The visual style calls to mind iconic experimental films like Fantastic Planet.
WATCH & SHARE “FACTORY GATES” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO HERE:
https://youtu.be/1XbfVLQEqlU
ABOUT SUN LO:
Sun Lo is a new collaboration between multitalented Canadian producer ATTLAS and acclaimed British vocalist Richard Walters. Bringing together two likeminded artists who have never even met in real life, the album demonstrates a synergy between the seemingly disparate musical worlds of the club, the orchestra, and the singer-songwriter.
Jeff Hartford grew up in first Toronto and then Detroit, playing piano, trumpet, guitar, bass and banjo — instruments which still play a part in his compositional techniques today. He listened to Beethoven and briefly worked as an assistant for a Hollywood film composer, but started releasing music as ATTLAS in 2015 after sending some demos to the Canadian electronic giant deadmau5. He went on to become one of the most celebrated artists ever to sign to deadmau5’s label mau5trap, releasing a string of EPs through the imprint as well as three albums.
Among his mau5trap releases was his second album Out There With You, released at the height of lockdown in late 2020. Richard Walters was one of the record’s many fans, and soon after its release he reached out to Hartford on Twitter, striking up a conversation which before long led to an exchange of ideas. “I think it was very soon after some of those first conversations that there were folders being sent to Richard,” Hartford remembers. “The folder that Jeff initially sent me was about 30 to 40 pieces of music,” Walters adds. “I could have written something to every single one of them.”
Walters grew up in Oxford, England, and spent his teens singing with several different bands. He began releasing as a solo artist in 2007, releasing five successful albums and collaborating with a myriad of talents including The Cranberries’ guitarist Noel Hogan, British poet laureate Simon Armitage in the band LYR, and even Oscar-nominated actor and singer Florence Pugh.
The connection between Walters and Hartford was immediate. They bonded over a shared taste in music, discussing everyone from Talk Talk to John Hopkins to Moderat to Neil Young. “We haven’t met yet,” Walters says. “But I feel like I know Jeff really well, just through our conversations about music.”
