Kavinsky has returned with “Renegade,” his first new music since 2013. The track, which features vocals from Cautious Clay, is from the acclaimed French producer’s forthcoming album, Reborn.
Combining a dark mood with a thunderous groove, Kavinsky reinvents his trademark sound and offers an update of the French Touch movement on “Renegade.”
Greatly inspired by cinema and the history of movies, Kavinsky has always intertwined music and storytelling. His breakthrough hit “Nightcall” soundtracked the opening moments of the film Drive, so it’s only fitting that the official video for “Renegade” unfurls like a condensed feature film. After three criminals send him flying through the windows of a skyscraper, Kavinsky emerges with superpowers and exacts his revenge.
Alexandre Courtès (Daft Punk, U2, Jamiroquai), who directed the video, explains, “I wanted to include Kavinsky in a real movie where he is the hero. With all the love and references he and I share, we pay homage to the film craft we cherish. Kavinsky is back with a bang !…. wait, no actually it’s three bangs.”
Kavinsky produced “Renegade” at Paris’ legendary Motorbass studio in collaboration with Victor Le Masne and Gaspard Augé (half of the group Justice). The three producers wrote the song with Cautious Clay.
After earning a strong following in the French electro scene with his early EPs, Kavinsky found mainstream success with the riveting placement of “Nightcall” in Drive. The 2011 film, which earned Nicolas Winding Refn the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, starred Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac and Albert Brooks. The accompanying soundtrack topped the soundtrack charts in the U.S. and the U.K
“Nightcall,” which Kavinsky produced alongside Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, was also heard in The Lincoln Lawyer and has since been sampled by Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and Childish Gambino. The song appeared on Kavinsky’s 2013 full-length debut, Outrun, which won a French GRAMMY. The album also included the singles “Roadgame,” which became a staple at sporting events, and “Odd Look” – a song that Kavinsky later re-recorded with The Weeknd.