Galantis: Blurring Lines in Voice

The+Swedish+duo+Galantis+brought+colourful+visuals+and+high+energy+to+their+performance+at+the+Hammerstein+Ballroom%2C+on+April+7.

Julia Saliba

The Swedish duo Galantis brought colourful visuals and high energy to their performance at the Hammerstein Ballroom, on April 7.

Julia Saliba, Deputy Video Editor

The Swedish musical duo Galantis made a name for themselves when their hit song “Runaway (U&I)” brought them into the public eye. However, it’s not just Swedish fans that flock to their shows — their set at Hammerstein Ballroom last Friday filled all four of the venue’s floors. The band’s visuals took over the stage, with background screens adding more graphic effects.Their everlasting energy kept the crowd jumping up and down throughout every song.

The day before, bandmates Christian Karlsson and Linus Eklow had a question-and-answer session for AOL’s BUILD series at the AOL Building on Broadway to talk about their music and its future directions. The duo shared how they experiment with the voices they use in their music.

For example, the singer in their latest track “Rich Boy” is actually an eight-year-old girl. Galantis explained that they don’t emphasize the gender of the human voices they use. They would rather leave the voices they use in an ambiguous state so fans can focus more on whether they like the music as a whole as opposed to the vocals themselves.

“This is freedom in Galantis,” Karlsson said. “We do whatever we want. We bring in whoever and do whatever. We can take that freedom and use it.”

As they continued discussing their new album, Karlsson and Eklow said that it was made differently than their previous work. As opposed to working within a studio, Galantis worked on the road — a challenge, to say the least.

At the concert, the opening act HookNSling warmed up the audience with remixes of crowd-favorite pop tracks like Calvin Harris’s “My Way.” Working with the small set he had, the DJ kept the crowd excited and left them wanting more. As his set came to an end, the crowd had doubled and was ready for Galantis.

Colorful flashing lights built suspense, and after just enough strobes and lasers, Galantis finally entered. The duo marched in with their signature Seafox flags, ran to the stage and opened the show with high energy as the crowd cheered them on. When playing their hit songs “No Money,” “Rich Boy” and “Pillow Fight,” the duo added in new remixes blurring the songs’ transitions, letting the set flow together. Galantis’ stage presence was excellent. Their enthusiasm was particularly highlighted each time they jumped off the high stage.

When the band performed “Love on Me,” they brought back HookNSling, since the group had co-written the song. Their vibrantly colored music video played in the background. Still, “Love On Me” was no match for the engaging closer “Runaway (U&I).” Their breakout hit created such excitement that the audience begged for an encore.

Email Julia Saliba at [email protected]