Astral 22

'Call it synchronicity, supernatural or just plain coincidence, that's how my connection with Shu'ane began.'

'Once upon a time, I created an instrumental based on the phenomena we call 'Deja vu', which is something just about everyone has experienced.

Deja vu is like the way you feel when you first wake up in the morning, that place between your dreams and the coming day's reality. Deja vu flows with jazzy chords and a steady baseline behind a classic Nu Soul groove.

Shortly after completing Deja Vu, Lola Waxx Records approached me wanting to release the instrumental but also suggested a vocal version.

I agreed and scheduled time out to seek out a vocalist for the project. Three days before embarking on this task, I got a message via MySpace from a vocalist using someone else's profile! She said she had resonated strongly with Deja Vu and wanted to write a vocal version to it.

Call it synchronicity, supernatural or just plain coincidence, that's how my connection with Shu'ane began.

At first I thought the label had discretely put Shu'ane up to this, considering she was located in the UK and a stone's throw away from them. But I was wrong. I still have no idea how one can search through thousands of music profiles and find that needle in a haystack. Mystery abounding, I even mistakenly took her name for a male vocalist at first and was very pleasantly surprised when I was greeted on the phone that first day by the sweet and delightful unmistakeably female, Shu'ane.

The mechanics of long distance collaborations can be challenging. It's not that I'm a "control freak" of a producer, but not being there to make a suggestion here or there, or to object or confirm the direction, is a gamble. What happens if it's a bore? Or off key?

My story with Shu'ane proved to be the opposite of all that, silky smooth and right on the money from the get go.

We worked together very well by having weekly phone conversations, mailing back and forth mp3's, and Shu'ane spent many a night locked inside her apartment writing to the track. She went into the studio in London and dropped her vocals within the course of a few weeks and 'overnighted' me the files from her studio session. I was really surprised and impressed with the work she had done, and it was real pleasure to mix and master the final version of "Make Me Wanna Fly" here in Los Angeles.

Mystery and fortune lie somewhere between the 8,750 kilometres that separate Los Angeles from London, and the hand of fate and chance that shaped our powerful connection and artistic collaboration is somewhere in the mix too! Does this read like the stuff of fairy tales and hit records? Take it from me, this is only half the story, the mystery was only just starting to deepen.'

Armand Tulumello (Astral22) - Los Angeles - January 2008