Klingande drops new track, explains what 'Klingande' means

Lille, France native Cédric Steinmyller produces under the moniker Klingande (pronounced “Kling-ong”) because, as he tells EW, “When I started in electronic music, I was very inspired by Swedish artists like Swedish House Mafia and Avicii so I decided to look for a name in Swedish dictionary—I finally choose Klingande, which means ‘sounding.'” He broke out in 2013 with two slow-burning, saxophone-heavy, downtempo successes, “Punga” and “Jubel,” and while similar fare may be the growing trend du jour, Klingande is arguably a large reason why.

Originally, he was making and playing deep house music, but “Tropical house, or melodic house, for me started in Europe with artists like Bakermat and Klangkarussell, when I first heard their songs it directly inspired me. I always love melodies, piano, and the mix of deep house with groovy instrumentals, like saxophone, was perfect for me.”

The artist is dropping a new track Monday, “Riva (Restart the Game)” featuring Broken Back (the two met in Klingande’s hometown last year), and it features a special sound: the harmonica, played by French harmonicist Greg Zlap. Of the sonic addition, Klingande says, “I wanted to keep my sound, following up ‘Jubel,’ and at the same time bring something new. In my scene nobody’s really used harmonica before and when I heard it I felt it was absolutely perfect.”

“Riva,” warm and welcoming, is a layered tune that began at the vocal—a unique story in a community that tends to build around beats. “When I can have a vocal to start, get a feeling, some inspiration around it, and build a track, that’s the way I prefer.” Stream the track in all its summery fun, below. The song is available for purchase here.

Klingande is currently on tour and his summer is dotted with appearances at tons of festivals, Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Tomorrowland, and Summerfestival, as well as tons of others. A full list of dates is here.