Galantis is back with new music today and has released ‘Do You Mind‘ via Ninja Tune’s Counter Records, and alongside it comes the announcement of his forthcoming EP, The Devil’s Tax Return: Volume 1, due October 16.
‘Do You Mind’ is a rework of Paleface ft. Kyla’s 2007 UK bassline and R&B track of the same name — a record that found its way into mainstream consciousness through Crazy Cousinz’s 2009 remix and then again when Drake sampled Kyla’s vocal for ‘One Dance’ in 2016. Karlsson zeroes in on the emotional core of Kyla’s melody and vocal, rebuilding the production from the ground up rather than layering over the original.
“Some records feel untouchable because they already captured a moment so perfectly,” says Karlsson. “Instead of trying to completely reinvent it, I wanted to celebrate what made it so special while giving it a new life. It’s a record I’ve loved for years and I like the idea of taking care of the music that we already know and love.”
The track follows ‘Stay Alive,’ released in May, making it the second single from this new chapter for the project. The EP title itself — The Devil’s Tax Return — is Karlsson’s own tongue-in-cheek framing, acknowledging a need for something fresh while working within familiar territory.
Beyond these two singles, the EP spans a wide range of reworked material — from Frankie Valli and The Killers to Feist and War On Drugs. These are songs that Karlsson cites as the soundtrack to his life when he was founding Miike Snow, the indie-dance trio behind platinum records ‘Animal’ and ‘Genghis Khan.’ The selections reflect a point in his career when creative freedom was still something he was discovering for the first time.
Prior to Miike Snow, Karlsson spent years as a top-line pop producer under the Bloodshy moniker, working alongside Avant (Pontus Winnberg). That run included co-writing and producing Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ — which won the GRAMMY for Best Dance Recording — as well as ‘Piece of Me,’ ‘Radar,’ and material for Madonna and Katy Perry. The EP, then, is something of a counterpoint to all that: stripped-back, personal, and built around records he loved rather than ones engineered for radio.
The Devil’s Tax Return: Volume 1 tracklist:
- Stay Alive
- Do You Mind
- Can’t Take My Eyes Off You
- When You Were Young
- 1234
- Red Eyes
On the live front, Galantis recently played Electric Forest and the San Francisco edition of MIDSOMMAR — his own event series built around themes of friendship and new beginnings. The MIDSOMMAR run continues in Chicago and New York City later this summer, with festival dates at World DJ Festival in Japan and Veld in Toronto also on the calendar.
Upcoming Galantis shows:
- July 5 — World DJ Festival, Tokyo, Japan
- July 11 — S20 Festival, Seoul, Korea
- July 31 — LIV, Miami
- Aug 1 — Veld Music Festival, Toronto
- Aug 21 — RYSE Nightclub, St. Louis
- Aug 22 — MIDSOMMAR, Chicago @ Salt Shed Fairgrounds
- Sep 11 — MIDSOMMAR, New York @ The Rooftop at Pier 17
- Sep 12 — MIDSOMMAR, New York @ The Rooftop at Pier 17
- Oct 16 — REALM, Portland
Stream ‘Do You Mind’ and pre-save The Devil’s Tax Return: Volume 1 at galantis.lnk.to/vol1.
