After the sleety, gloomy winter and ahead of the brighter, longer days comes a cheery EDM slammer in major key ‘Back To Me’, the new single by classically trained producer from Lower Saxony 3uki (pronounced ‘three-you-key’) guaranteed to put some spring in the step. Co-written by the featuring vocalist Anthony Meyer and Miles Arnell, on paper the lyrics tell about those distinctive ambivalent feelings towards the person with whom we have fallen out of love that are rekindled long after the breakup all too easily. ‘Scrolling through my phone again / Memories of you creeping in again / It used to make me wanna just forget your name / Think about what we have been.’ To match these conflicting emotions with his music, Kwoczek has juxtaposed the melancholic lyrics with upbeat harmonies on piano and guitar. ‘I got this a little bit from ABBA’, Kwoczek explained, revealing his influences and tricks of the trade. The end result is a well-executed musical transition from the incapacitating ambivalence to jubilant acceptance through a painful admission that brings emotionally charged, piano-driven harmonies inspired by Kygo, Fred Again, and Don Diablo to the dance floor in full force.

The song came about during perhaps the most unlikely period in Kwoczek’s life: in the runup to the university exams. Doubting his ability to concentrate in his own apartment, he decided to minimize the distractions by moving to his parents’ place without his computer. Soon after arriving there, he received an email from Miles Arnell with an acapella attached to it. ‘I was really hooked on it,’ Kwoczek exclaims. ‘And I said: wow, this needs to be done, the collaboration!’

Without delay, Kwoczek went straight to the piano at his parents’ house, put the acapella on his phone and cracked on with the song, spending the rest of the day on trying to find match the music with the vocals without any computer or DAW. ‘I just focused on arranging the whole melodic part without any digital thing,’ he said. Not having any equipment around turned out to be a happy accident. ‘It was a very fruitful way of getting into the production, so I will do this again, definitely.’

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