Franky Wah talks us through ‘The Revival Vol. 1’

Amidst a flood of praise surrounding the lead single ‘Come Together’, Yorkshire artist Franky Wah has now released his highly anticipated mixtape ‘The Revival Vol. 1’.

Two years in the making, the 14-track release showcases the breadth of the rising talent’s musicality, made up exclusively of Franky Wah’s own productions. He wanted to release a full body of work that tells his the story of his music as a journey.

We asked Franky to talk us through each track from the project, and what inspired him to create each one.

Parallel Universe

This record was made the exact same week as ‘Get Me High’! Both the records were influenced by a very special sunrise moment at Cafe Del Mar at Sonar week in Barcelona. I felt it was a turning point in my career because I came back from that holiday with a different mindset and it totally changed how I wanted to produce music.

Fly

I wanted to produce a record that gave you the feels but also wasn’t pigeon-holed into a specific genre. I feel this record touches the surface on multiple genres, and could potentially have a huge variety of DJs playing and supporting it.

In This World

I’ve been a fan of Moby since I can remember and I knew this vocal would be perfect for my type of production. I made this and sat on it for a while before I even considered doing anything with it, but I would often receive messages from fans saying “I think you and Moby should do a record together”. I think after about the 10th message I got, I took this as a hint and decided to send it to my label and here we are!

Come Together

I wrote this record at the end of summer 2019, inspired by one of the best summers of my life touring and playing all over the world. I wanted to capture the essence of the 90s but put a modern take on it, and the minute I found those piano chords I felt like I was really onto something. It was pure chance that this record was released around the time of a global pandemic and has become so fitting to our current situation

Don’t Be

This was written the same month I wrote ‘Get Me High’, and I remember it being the first time in my career I referenced my own production in order to produce another. It was going to be the follow up single to ‘Get Me High’ but I’m so glad I waited to release it on ‘The Revival’.

Lost In Time

This record has a very similar meaning behind it as ‘Fly’ does – I wanted to create a track that was influenced by multiple genres. I experiment like this on a weekly basis in the studio and fortunately, this was one of the records that really made the cut.

You’re Not Alone

There’s a couple of little stories to share behind the production of this record and why I love it so much. One is that it reminds me of a family holiday during the 90s… I’m one of five children and we used to have the best family trips away, and I clearly remember this being played during one of our favourite holidays, so it always takes me back to that time being away with the family when I was younger. The other is that last year, after making my debut at hï Ibiza for Bodyworks, my friends and I all went back to our apartment for a pretty fun after-party – I had a moment of clarity during the night and put the original on and said ‘I’m going to remake this record’, so the following day that’s exactly what I did!

First Light

I wanted to produce something that would sound great playing on a sound system to 30k people at a festival. I wanted it to have that big room feel but also inject it with the same raw emotion most of my tracks have.

Oscillate

Records like this often make their way into my sets, and I wanted to make sure the mixtape had it all. As a whole ‘The Revival’ has plenty of emotion but this record adds a slightly tougher edge to the mixtape.

Tomorrow

I actually produced this record the week one of my favourite labels reached out to me saying they wanted to sign one of my records… Afterlife reached out saying they wanted to sign me, and I instantly had a huge urge of inspiration and went to the studio and created this.

Horizons

This record is special to me; again, I made it the same month as ‘Get Me High’ but it has never seen the light of day until now, as the timing never seemed right to release it. I really feel it has a place now within this wider body of music and it really makes sense on ‘The Revival’. I’ll never forget the crowd reaction when I played it on the Main Stage at Creamfields… priceless!

Cry No More

I came across the initial sample, “I ain’t gonna cry no more”, and for me, I could only take the record one way. I wanted to put my signature sound stamp on it and I feel that’s exactly what I did. I put a little clip up on Instagram of me creating the record in the studio and the feedback was incredible, so I knew it made sense to hold out and release it on the mixtape.

Waking Up

Well, this was an honour! MJ Cole is a legend and Freya’s voice is so incredible and haunting. I really really enjoyed producing this record – it was the first record I produced working with a full vocal and the process went extremely well. I love the journey this record takes you on, from the breakbeat drum pattern to moving onto 4×4, it’s a real progression.

Green And Gold

I had the pleasure of making this with the awesome Ruby Wood. I really enjoyed the production process on this one, before we even wrote anything down, we sat down and had a cuppa and discussed everything I wanted from the song including lyrics etc. We wrote the lyrics and recorded them in less than two hours. The whole process felt so natural and I hope the smoothness of the production process translates into the record. For me slowing down to 110 bpm and concluding the mixtape with this record was a perfect ending.

Franky Wah’s mixtape ‘The Revival Vol. 1’ is out now grab it from here