Last month we alerted you to a few Texas EDM artists to watch, including Lubbock's Ryan Scott, who goes by the name Swanbeats. This week he's given us a first look at an electronic duo he's formed with Austin's Kelly Bergeron, aka Evolsi, by way of a cover of Drake’s “Passionfruit."
The pair have already seen success together. Earlier this year, "So Young," an original track by Scott which featured Bergeron, went viral on Spotify with nearly half a million plays.
“It just got to the point where when I made an instrumental, I wanted to send everything to her, but we weren’t a duo," Scott says. "Then 'So Young' popped off, so we were like, 'Well, why don’t we just do it?'"
Swanbeats X Evolsi have eight original songs in the works and plan to perform live soon, Scott says, but they want to build up a cache of songs first. In the meantime, they decided to introduce themselves as a duo by having fun with Drake's newest single.
“I’m sure I didn’t get every single aspect of the ['Passionfruit'], but I got every part that really defines the track," Scott says. "And when I was making it, I had it in my mind that I’d be playing it live, so I kind of made it more simple and made sure to bring the parts of the song that could be visually seen.”
Like all of their music, the song was recorded in Scott's and Bergeron's bedrooms. “Neither of us has a budget," Bergeron says. "We don’t have any fancy gear, I think we both just have a 49-key keyboard and Ableton."
Bergeron honed her talent as a singer-songwriter while growing up in the small South Texas town of Nederland. Two years ago she began to record her first EP, Paradigms, released in 2016. Shortly after that she met Scott.
"We always say we’re better together," Bergeron says. "Like, yeah sure, I can write some lyrics and sing some songs, but I’m not as good at the production side.”"Everything I can’t do, he can do." - Kelly Bergeron, Swanbeats
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“Yeah, I can’t sing for shit,” Scott says, eliciting a laugh from Bergeron. “Him on the other hand, he has a hard time writing and doesn’t like to sing," she says. "So it’s like, everything I can’t do, he can do.”
Scott hopes this cover will give listeners an idea of what their combined talents will produce. "We can’t show you our original tracks yet, but here’s a taste of what it’s going to be like."