Paces - ZAG
24 Aug 2018
Paces
// MUSIC
A truly unique Australian is Mikey Perry, whose project Paces is the musical response to his ever-positive attitude and focus on creating good vibe party tunes. Today Paces releases his sophomore album ZAG¸ which has debuted at #1 on the iTunes Electronic Albums Chart and top 10 on the overall iTunes Albums chart.
Born from the triple j Unearthed class of 2015, Paces continues to acknowledge and support emerging Australian artists and as a result, Paces’ sophomore album ZAG features a plethora of collaborations from the likes of rising Aussie stars Midas.Gold, CLYPSO, Jeida Woods, NYNE and Doolie. ZAG also features collabs with US artists Gladiator, Caly Bevier, Emmalyn and Raven Felix, plus a new collaboration with Australian pop royalty Guy Sebastian, ‘Siren’, which has already reached #1 on the iTunes Electronic Singles Chart. This follows on from Paces’ scene stealing triple j Like A Version with Sebastian back in 2016, which broke the internet and delivered Sebastian to a brand new audience.
ZAG comes to fruition following an intense period of change for Paces, which he explains in his own words: “During the two years since my debut album was released, I entered the most intense period of change I’ve ever gone through. I was playing bigger shows and festivals, I became a dad, I went through some serious personal crises and was in therapy for much of the time, I put myself through a Berklee College music course, got more into fitness and changed my diet, signed a global publishing deal, got engaged. So much was changing! Including the music I was writing. The key thing that I learned throughout it all was that it’s ok to change; in fact it’s a good and necessary part of life!
With that lesson in mind I began writing this album knowing that it had to be an artistic step forward from the previous one, while being mindful to not alienate the day-one Pacey Peeps. The new sound pivots toward a festival vibe, but has more of a pop sensibility than my previous work. There’s more of a hip hop influence shining through too, and the harmonies are more carefully considered. I also worked with a lot of pop songwriters this time around which was a new and exciting experience for me. I think it’s so cool where pop is headed at the moment so I’m super psyched to be part of that in my own weird way. The songs ended up being about whatever each vocalist wrote, but the foundation beneath that is all about change and moving forward and being ok with that.
When they expect you to zig,
that’s when you zag, binch! :)”
ZAG features the recently released single ‘Call The 5-0’ featuring Midas.Gold, Tigerilla and Health Club, with the accompanying video filmed around the streets of the Gold Coast, plus new single ‘Technique’ featuring Emmalyn (previously of G.R.L) and Jeida Woods. Watch the ‘Technique’ video here. Billboard also just premiered album track ‘Close Enough’ featuring US singer and cancer survivor Caly Bevier, describing it as “an exotic production with breathy notes that manages to play in the space between two musical worlds.
ZAG also features Paces’ huge track ‘Savage’ featuring NYNE which has now had over 8 million plays on Spotify alone and got picked up for release by the esteemed Republic Records in the US, home to an all-star roster of multi-platinum, award winning artists such as Drake and The Weeknd.
Since the release of his ‘On My Mind’ EP in 2014, Paces has amassed over 22 million Spotify streams across his catalogue – a true Australian success story built from the ground up. Paces’ 2016 debut album Vacation also debuted at #1 on the iTunes Electronic chart and featured the singles ‘Nothing’s Forever’ with Kucka, ‘1993 (No Chill)’ with Jess Kent and ‘Work Me Out’ featuring Rye Rye.
Paces will be taking ZAG on tour all around the country later this year, visiting his beloved Pacey Peeps on a 14-date tour of capital cities and regional areas. Check out the full run of tour dates on his socials and get ZAG from August 24th via etcetc.
