Melbourne, Australia-based duo Close Counters (namely Allan McConnell and Finn Rees) have offered up their latest single, “Up & Out,” as one of this week’s free downloads to full XLR8R+ members.

Painstakingly crafted during lockdown, the sublime, sun-drenched “Up & Out” features the feel-good beauty of an eight-person choir, featuring Abbey Howlett, Tiana Khasi, Tram Cops, Warrigo Tyrell (a.k.a WAARI), Allysha Joy, and Chloe Sanger, which the duo chop and sample throughout the track.

“Everyone recorded their vocals from their makeshift studio setups and let us piece together the puzzle,” the McConnell explains.”We think of this song as a bit of a celebration and maybe it was ironically yet appropriately titled in 2019 before any of this went down. It’s a fun, throwback tune to the early 2000s. Enjoy and we’ll see you on the dancefloor soon enough!”

Hiatus Kaiyote’s Paul Bender provided the hip-moving bassline, which compliments the duo’s swinging percussion and swirling synths.

The track lands with a visualizer created by Close Counters’ Rees, which you can stream in full below.

Tracklisting

01. Up & Out

“Up & Out” is available on Bandcamp now, and it’s available for pre-save “Up & Out” on streaming services here. Meanwhile, it’s available as a download to XLR8R+ members below.

For those unfamiliar, XLR8R+ is a member-supported music community and curated music experience. Every month, you will get at least three exclusive tracks—sometimes more—by a wealth of amazing artists that XLR8R has supported over the years, as well as access to the member’s area where you can submit tracks and DJ mixes to be showcased in this feature series and to the XLR8R+ community, as well as exclusive editorial content, mixes, playlists, weekly downloads such as these, and more. You can find out more here.