Premiere: Azure by FootsxColes
photo by Jada Imani
As our days grow warmer and shelter in place orders begin to relax, we find ourselves more and more in need of walkout music for our first sojourns out of the house this spring. On their sophomore album, Azure, duo FootsXColes have delivered a project that is just that—an immediately fun record. Azure, out this Monday, is filled with lush, uptempo production that is a slight departure from the syrupy R&B from November’s 6-track EP. On tracks like “Newport” and “Aura Blue”, FootsXColes rev up the BPMs for dance floor friendly affairs that point towards brighter days ahead.
“[Azure]’s more upbeat, it’s more danceable,” said Arami “Coles” Coleman, the group’s producer and keyboard player. “I think we’re going to reach a bigger audience with this, because everybody likes dance music. Or to a point — it makes you dance.”
Coles and Bradley “Foots” McDonald, who plays drums and handles much of the vocal duties, make up the group, which released its first full length album Sitting In Outer Space in early 2018. The two met as music technology majors at Bowie State University and played in another group afterwards, before beginning to record and play live as a two-piece band.
Recording for Azure began this winter, during which time Foots was preparing for his new duties as a father, shortly after they released Jade, but the two projects were planned simultaneously to tie in a theme —their expression of various shades of blue and green, with azure described as the color of the sky on a clear day. Fortunately for FootsXColes, when it came time to release their latest project, much of the recording had already taken place this Winter and the two were able to make their previously planned May release.
“It was nothing but God that we had the whole project planned out. So that worked out for the better,” said Foots. “The thing about us is we just put a certain energy into it. We may not be for everybody and that’s cool, as long as the people that do rock with us are getting quality.”
The last time the two saw each other was two months ago, due to quarantine, but that didn’t change much for them as they looked to finish Azure. Beyond mastering, all that was left to do was secure a few guest verses like Matt McGhee’s standout raps on “Matrix”. Other collaborators are trumpet and production work from Timothy Arrington and some standout contributions from Zaamwé.
“Technology is just crazy nowadays, you can make a note and share it with the whole band. Keeping people updated and then just sending it off to get mastered,” Coles said of the recording process.
As a band, FootsXColes are incredible live performers, having opened for dreamy synth-pop acts like Toro y Moi and Homeshake. The nationwide quarantine has made playing out all but impossible and the last time the two performed live was in February. “That’s where we can express, we can see the reactions that listen to our music, be it digitally, but we also get the opportunity to see the reactions from all the people hearing us for the first time as well,” says Coles. That’s an opportunity we’ll never get tired of.”
Since they won’t have the chance to play their new album in front of a physical audience, FootsXColes decided to adapt to other methods of spreading Azure’s warm vibe to new fans. The group will be taking the opportunity to perform a live set on Friday, May 8 as a part of Songbyrd Music House’s series on Instagram, Caged Bird.
Listen to Azure by FootsXColes below.
More info on this Friday’s live stream here.