"Unfold" is a song by American record producer

Porter Robinson Porter Weston Robinson (born July 15, 1992) is an American DJ, record producer, musician, and singer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Robinson began producing music in his childhood. He signed to Skrillex's record label Owsla, OWSLA at the age o ...

and British singer-songwriter and producer

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Orlando Tobias Edward Higginbottom (born 7 March 1986), known professionally as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (or TEED), is a British electronic music producer, DJ and singer-songwriter based in the United States. Early life Orlando is ...

. It is the sixth and final single from Robinson's second album ''

Nurture Nature versus nurture is a long-standing debate in biology and society about the balance between two competing factors which determine fate: genetics (nature) and environment (nurture). The alliterative expression "nature and nurture" in English h ...

'', released on April 22, 2021, one day before the rest of the album. This song is the only listed collaboration on ''Nurture'' and Robinson has stated that this was a contributing factor in making the song a callback to his first album '' Worlds''.

Background and composition

Being a longtime admirer of Higginbottom's music, Robinson decided to collaborate with him for a song on ''Nurture''. During the writing process, Higginbottom expressed his appreciation for "

Sea of Voices "Sea of Voices" is a song recorded by American electronic music producer Porter Robinson. It was released on March 3, 2014 as the first single from his debut studio album '' Worlds'' (2014). The track revealed the tone of ''Worlds'' as emotional an ...

", a song from Robinson's previous album, '' Worlds''. This led Robinson to write the instrumentation in a similar style to his older music, while still retaining some distinctive elements of his newer works. Most prominently among the distinctive sounds of ''Nurture'' is Robinson's own singing voice – sometimes processed to sound more feminine – alongside Higginbottom's vocals. As a result of "Unfold" now talking on a more

maximalist In the arts, maximalism, a reaction against minimalism, is an aesthetic of excess. The philosophy can be summarized as "more is more", contrasting with the minimalist motto "less is more". Literature The term ''maximalism'' is sometimes associat ...

tone, Robinson made the decision to move it towards the conclusion of the record, as he felt it to be "an end-of-album moment." The song is set in

B♭ major B-flat major is a major scale based on B, with pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor. The B-flat major scale is: : Many transposing instr ...

at 133 BPM.

Critical reception

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''s Colin Joyce labelled "Unfold" as "blissed-out digital

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

", whilst Sophie Walker of ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'' wrote that the track "

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somewhat

anticlimactic The climax (from the Ancient Greek language, Greek word ''κλῖμαξ'', meaning "staircase" and "ladder") or turning point of a narrative, narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama, or it is the time when the action starts du ...

thirteen tracks deep nto ''Nurture''" Calling it "soaring, cheery, and blissful", ''Magnetic Mag''s Ryan Middleton stated that "Unfold" was the album's " crown jewel". Middleton favorably compared it to Robinson's two previous collaborations, " Easy" (with

Mat Zo Matan Zohar ( ; born 30 April 1990), better known by his stage name Mat Zo, is a British producer and DJ. Zohar released his debut album, ''Damage Control'', via the Anjunabeats and Astralwerks labels on 5 November 2013. His second studio album ...

) and "

Shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locatio ...

" (with

Madeon Hugo Pierre Leclercq (; born 30 May 1994), better known by his stage name Madeon (), is a French DJ and music producer from Nantes, currently based in Los Angeles. He initially came to widespread public attention at 17 through a YouTube video, " ...

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

writer Sose Fuamoli thought "the team up

f Robinson and Higginbottom F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. His ...

ad givenway to punching beats, emphatic drum patterns and vocals that only grow stronger with their persistent energy."

Lyric video

The lyric video for "Unfold" was released on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

on May 19, 2021. The video was made by Eric Ko with creative direction by Robinson and

Samuel Burgess-Johnson Samuel Burgess-Johnson is an English art director, graphic designer and photographer based in Los Angeles, known for working with musical artists such as The 1975, Tove Lo, Wolf Alice and No Rome. Career Samuel Burgess-Johnson moved to Melbour ...

, who has collaborated with Robinson on other music videos. The video prominently features the lyrics alongside the chords, similar to a

lead sheet A lead sheet or fake sheet is a form of musical notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric is written as text below the ...

, and the beginning of the video features fretboard diagrams of the same chords preceded by the words "chords ( capo on 3rd fret)".

Charts

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2021 singles 2021 songs Porter Robinson songs Mom + Pop Music singles Song recordings produced by Porter Robinson Songs written by Porter Robinson Songs written by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs songs