Cashmere Cat - With Me - Best New Bands

New York – Cashmere Cat is the moniker for Magnus August Høiberg, 26-year-old Norwegian DJ and wunderkind producer. This Oslo native’s sound is soft enough to hold close but wild enough to reign as king of the concrete jungle. Høiberg has just hit us with his new single, “With Me.” This track is the first glimpse of Cashmere Cat’s forthcoming EP, Wedding Bells, which is scheduled for release on January 28^th off LuckyMe Records.

With only one previous EP to date, Cashmere Cat has made incredible strides with his work, and established some notable connections along the way. His first EP, Mirror Maru, was released in October 2012 on the Belgium label Pelican Fly.

Not quite hip-hop, not quite electronica, Cashmere Cat’s sound meets somewhere between the two. Heavily influenced by trap music and R&B, too, “With Me” seems to reconcile all the best of what gets a body moving. As sexy as The Weeknd, as dance-worthy as Ratatat and as hard-hitting as Diplo, Cashmere Cat is a master crafter of affecting digital arrangements. His work is stirring, and striking to the core.

“With Me” is a brilliantly produced track, and what’s more, it is guaranteed to take you off guard. The song starts innocently enough, with a graceful and gentle piano chord progression. It escalades in energy quite quickly, as overlays of heavy electronic beats stack up. Dissolving once more into twinkling bells, the breakdown comes in with crooning vocals. The singings themselves are indecipherable in a way that plays on anticipation.

Shifting pitches and distortions tie the track together and rip it apart simultaneously, and the effect is entirely alluring. Some might call Cashmere Cat’s sound frenzied, hectic even, but there is a defined melodic method to the madness. Due to the dicey nature of the song, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly at what time or which tempo we are won. Wildly gentle and softly fierce, the dichotomy of “With Me” is its greatest triumph. Coy and couth, this song will drag you down to an intangible sonic place and keep you there, on repeat.

Already rolling in international acclaim, Høiberg was a finalist in the DMC World DJ Championships 2006 -2009. The Cashmere Cat Remix of Lana Del Rey’s National Anthem later helped the young DJ gain a fair amount of exposure in the world of remixing. Last April Høiberg played with Diplo in Paris, and through various other collaborations he has garnered support from major DJs such as A-Trak, Hudson Mohawke, Rustie, Nguzunguzu and Baauer.

This Oslo boy seems to have moved far beyond his early days, buried in the disco and house music scenes. His entre into the electronic dance arena in 2012 marked a notable shift in his career, and his progress since then is as evident and explosive as the music he is making today. Undoubtedly, “With Me” highlights his sonic evolution and adequately entices us for the EP in full come January. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Høiberg himself looks as lovable as a cat made of cashmere would certainly be.

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Liz Rowley

Born in Mexico and raised in Toronto, Jerusalem and Chicago by a pair of journalists, Liz comes to BestNewBands.com with an inherited love of writing. After discovering a niche for herself in music journalism and radio while at Bates College in Maine, she always keeps a running playlist of new music to soundtrack her place in the world. Liz is passionate about helping dedicated, talented musicians gain the exposure they deserve. A recent transplant to Brooklyn from Hawaii, she is plagued by an incurable case of wanderlust and cursed with an affinity for old maps and old things like typewriters and vintage books. She adores photography and running and is very good with plants. Having come of age in Chicago, Wilco speaks to her soul. If she could be anything, she would be a cat in a Murakami novel.