Some tracks are built for a single moment; others keep finding new ones. Claxy’s “Before The Sun” began life as a dreamy, pre-dawn meditation — and now, reworked by UK deep house duo Death On the Balcony, it’s been carried out onto the dancefloor. Out now via Embassy One, the remix sits alongside the original as two sides of the same sunrise.
We sat both acts down for a cross-interview about the writing, the remix process, and how a song travels from the home studio to the sunset set. Part one is with Claxy; part two with Death On the Balcony.
Part One — Claxy
The Original Vibe & Musical Worlds
“Before The Sun” has such a cinematic, sunset-like energy to it. What atmosphere, mood or setting did you have in mind when you first started writing it?
Clara started writing “Before The Sun” at the end of last year, when the days in Germany were getting darker and shorter and they were waking up to take their daughter to daycare while it was still dark outside. One phrase kept circling in her mind: I don’t want to wake up Before The Sun. She realized later it was about something much deeper, about not wanting to leave that state of mind where you’re not thinking, just floating, expanding, the way we do when we’re dreaming. It’s about the deep connection we can reach in the darkness, before the sun. Gui always says the filtered sawtooth pads in the track literally sound orange and pink to him, like a sunrise. That image captures it perfectly.
The track features vocals drifting between English and Portuguese. What made you decide to use two languages, and how does it contribute to the overall vibe?
Drifting between the two languages is completely natural for us. We’re Portuguese native speakers but English is our second language, and even between ourselves we switch back and forth all the time. For a while we had tracks that were 100% English and others 100% Portuguese, so bringing both languages together in one song just made sense for who we are. We also believe the language switch brings another dimension to the song. When Clara comes back to sing the verse in Portuguese, it’s not just a translation. It’s her perspective, a deeper layer of feeling, a new development in the story.
The Remix Process
Was there a specific moment or element in Death On the Balcony’s remix that completely surprised you, or made you hear your own track in a brand-new way?
Definitely. We loved the way they sped up the vocals and created a completely new hook and melody out of them. If the original “Before The Sun” is that dreamy, golden moment just before sunrise, their remix is the moment the sun fully arrives. Same warmth, but with a completely new energy. That shift really surprised us.
It was like hearing our own voice saying something we didn’t know we’d said.Claxy
Track Evolution & The Big Picture
How does it feel to see “Before The Sun” evolve from your initial studio sessions into these new, dancefloor-ready interpretations?
It’s one of the most rewarding feelings in music. When you write a song, it lives in your head in a very specific way — you hear it the way you felt it when you made it. Then someone else takes it, hears something completely different in it, and gives it a new life you never imagined. With Death On the Balcony, they found grooves and melodies in “Before The Sun” that we didn’t know were there. They even called it “Beyond The Sun” by mistake, which we thought was very funny and related to where the track went with their remix. It’s not just our song anymore, it belongs to the dancefloor too, and that feels like the best possible outcome.
For you, what is the defining feature or “soul” of a Death On the Balcony remix, and why were they the perfect fit for this track?
For us, Death On The Balcony has this organic, chilled sound, and we wanted exactly that for the remix. They kept the dreaminess but made it more laid-back, and let the groove do the talking. That’s what made them the perfect fit for this track.
Part Two — Death On the Balcony
The Original Vibe & Musical Worlds
When you first listened to the original, what elements or emotions stood out to you the most?
When we received the request for the remix we felt initially inspired by the melodies in the pads, keys and cadence of the vocals. We felt we could rearrange the vocal to flip the lyrics a little & create a new hook line whilst taking the melodies, arrangement & playing new ones to also add to taking it in a different direction whilst staying true to the original essence.
Coming from a palette ranging from deep house to deeper melodic techno, how would you describe your signature “sound-world,” and how did you channel that into this release?
We like to say “House Wears Many Hats” and have always felt & followed that with our listening, playing, producing & thinking… Deep, warm, emotive, groove-led, tracks for the dancefloor and beyond. We’ve also always honoured and respected the roots of House Music and our inspirations from the late 80s to mid 90’s scenes. Then going even further back towards Disco and more genres (new wave, synth pop, new romantic) from the mid 70s to all of the 80’s, with its music scenes, sub cultures and the mass adoption of synthesised sounds that became much more accessible by this point too. We have also always used the catchline “Melodic Buzz of a Hazy Brain” which aligns with our sound & style and the feelings that world and essence can evoke musically.
We like to say “House Wears Many Hats” … Deep, warm, emotive, groove-led, tracks for the dancefloor and beyond.Death On the Balcony
The Remix Process
Take us into your studio. When you start remixing a track like “Before The Sun,” where do you begin — the vocals, the groove, or a completely new melody?
When beginning remixes we usually look for a twist on the original melodies, which creates the foundation for our remix. It could be reinterpreting the melodies and repositioning them, rearranging the structure, taking key elements and working them completely differently. Or we could mirror the melodies with new synths to create a new direction. Taking parts less used, or overlooked, and making them more prominent, or flipping them completely — highlighting certain parts & reinventing or replaying them. The beats and a new groove would also come earlier in the timeline too. The vocal will always be in mind, but usually would be worked on once we have a strong base and the bones of the track, say an instrumental version. Then you can work with all vocal elements in real time as you go, so it’s a bit like channeling the vocal source, lyrics, words or singer in the moment, with the new energy, time & structure of any given track.
Remixing an established track is a delicate balance. How did you decide which elements of the original to keep, and which to strip back or replace?
With making music in general you have to be able to FEEL, play and flow unrestricted by thoughts of “where it should go” or “what it should be” initially. This is what leads you to your true sound and gives it an original take. There is no particular order or trick to this. Sometimes certain parts stand out initially and you know that you might want to base an initial idea around that. This can change & morph as the process goes on, as we refine, add, take away and look to give the track its own individuality. Curveballs and happy accidents come along too, which most of the time become a good thing with the creative process also. We try to incorporate as much as we can from an original, even if it’s been altered or processed differently, or used more sparsely, or just hints of it rather than the full original pattern. We also sometimes like to add new musical parts, vocals or additions which people have coined the “DOTB touch” with our productions and mixes too.
Did you face any specific challenges while working on this remix, and how did you find the right groove?
There are always challenges when you are creating the initial idea. There are infinite possibilities at this stage, so you have to be confident and settle on your direction once you have played and explored the samples. Remixes, as with all tracks that are working, are a case of channelling and following the flow. They usually turn out to be the best results, rather than the ones you really have to work at. Not to say you can’t create something good other ways, but from experience that way is where you feel the magic has happened. Which is ideally what you always want to feel. At least between you — then it’s up to everyone else to make their own minds up!
Track Evolution & The Big Picture
How does your remix differ in its intended energy or “peak time” compared to Claxy’s original mix?
We aimed to create a version that we would play in a set of ours, and that would bring the original to different dancefloors and be heard at different times than the original. We didn’t want to take it out of the 4/4 House genre, and felt that we just wanted to inject a different groove into it whilst taking the melodies and vocals in a different direction — purposefully working a new hook out of the vocals than was initially intended in the original.
As producers who also release a lot of original music, how does the remixing process influence your own upcoming productions?
Every track, whether it is a remix or an original, is a new concept to us. There may be subconscious influence, but we take each one on its own merit and with its own personality. Some producers like to work with templates, but generally we start from scratch each time and have a whole new sound palette with every conception.
One Last Question — For Both
Now that the release is out in the wild, what feeling or message do you hope listeners take away from this “Before The Sun” journey, from original to remix?
Claxy: The journey of the sun. LOL! Going inward, coming outward, and returning inward again. The original takes you deep inside yourself; the remix brings you out into the world; and when it’s over, you carry that feeling back in. Connection to the whole.
Going inward, coming outward, and returning inward again.Claxy
Death On the Balcony: We hope that our remix adds new life to the original & brings some joy to people who stumble upon it. If it gives a feeling of light & warmth in people, regardless of the sunshine or not, then we will be happy! However, it’s most certainly designed and best heard in the summer sun and on sunset, sunrise dancefloors, outdoors, or equally in the right club setting too.
Claxy — “Before The Sun” (Death On the Balcony Remix) is out now via Embassy One.
