Aurora Dee Raynes

Stemming from a collaboration between vocalist Danielle Kranendonk (aka DanDans K) and producer Stephen Raynes (aka Touchy Subject), Aurora Dee Raynes began in a North-London kitchen, filled with cooking, wine drinking and Kranendonk’s velvety vocals.

Forming a strong friendship; the pair started making music with a few beats, and vocals inspired by legendary singers Etta James, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott – together with the musical stylings of Robert Glasper, Dimlite, Taylor McFerrin, Jordan Rakei and BadBadNotGood.

Their debut EP ‘Do What You Do’, released on WotNot Music, was followed by “Find My Way” their debut release on Tru Thoughts – a track that brims with summer vibes. Picking up support from the likes of BBC 6Music’s Huey Morgan, Gilles Peterson and Tom Ravenscroft – as well as Clash and NTS, with the transcendental video of single premiering on THUMP.

Developing into a live band, joined by Tristan Williams (aka Tehbis) who co-produces as well as providing live drums, Nicholas Johnson on keys, Richard Summers adding bass and guitar and additional vocals and guitar from Yohan Forbes.

Mixing the gorgeously blissed-out sounds of their previous release with a flavour of old school funk, “Find My Way” is a track made to make you move. The multi-layered rhythmic drum sounds, including a wave drum for the tabla sound, intertwine with the vibrancy of Johnson’s keys and Summers’ bass, alongside a selection of synths to form an ever-changing basis for Kranendonk’s ever-soulful vocals.

“This song is about finding your way, literally” the band explain, detailing how the lyrics of the song focus on a relationship breakdown with bad decisions and a lack of honesty at its heart. Drawing on a range of different emotions, the movement of the track reflects the happiness felt moving on after the end of a relationship; “Being able to find that happiness inside for the everyday and move forward – There is another realm with so much to discover”.

Directed by Aurora Dee Raynes and Ben Jones AKA the creative director of Preference Studios and produced by Ollie Rushton and The Farm, the video for “Find My Way” reiterates this story. The one-shot music video was rehearsed every weekend for 5 weeks before going to grade and receiving some psychedelic visual effects treatment. Echoing the lyrics of the track, the video features Kranendonk moving on and finding a way through busy London streets, encountering various people, band members and alternate realms on her journey.

Releasing music as DanDans K, Kranendonk collaborates with various producers including Lewis James of Recent Production. Having seen vinyl releases on the likes of Astrophonica, Ivy Lab’s 20/20, Rua Sounds, Numbers WotNot and more, Touchy Subject’s experimental sound continues to reach the clubs and dance scenes across the world.