Claptone releases single ‚Wake Up‘ featuring James Vincent McMorrow

The DJ and producer also announced his new album, featuring collaborations with Barry Manilow and Seal and more, will be released later this year

Mysterious DJ and producer Claptone has shared a new single featuring James Vincent McMorrow, ‚Wake Up‘, ahead of the release of his forthcoming new album.

Claptone’s third studio album Closer is set for release on 12th November via Different Recordings and will feature a string of collaborators and pop icons including Barry Manilow, Seal and many more.

Single ‚Wake Up‘ is a house and garage-layered inspired track featuring soulful vocals from James Vincent McMorrow, „a piece of vintage 90s pop house [that] evokes moments of happiness and melancholia at the same time,“ according to Claptone.

„Let ‚Wake Up‘ conquer your heart with intensely deep and honest lyrics on a bed of garage bass with a side of powerful uplifting piano stabs. There’s a yearning deeply rooted in too many months of isolation, an emotional congestion that erupts on the dancefloor of the first festival after far too long“

Closer has been in the making for over three years and showcases a natural development in sound for Claptone. The album is co-produced by Stuart Price, a three-time Grammy-winning electronic musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer known for his work with artists such as The Killers, Dua Lipa and Pet Shop Boys.

The album features a host of global collaborators such as Peter Bjorn & John, Seal, Mayer Hawthorne, APRE, Lau.Ra, Two Another and long-time Claptone collaborator, Nathan Nicholson, ex-singer of The Boxer Rebellion, to name but a few.

Closer also features a surprise pairing between Claptone and American pop icon and showman, Barry Manilow. A further exhibition of Claptone’s critical acclaim, which spans across the realms of the underground to pop music, the collaboration took flight when Claptone noticed Barry Manilow taking part in a TV interview where he mentioned that his favourite act was ‚Some guy named Claptone‘.

„So, I hit him up. He was like, ‘let’s do something’!“ Manilow (whose career spans 50 years with hits such as ‚Mandy‘ and ‚Copacabana‘) said “he was looking for a Dusty Springfield / Pet Shop Boys moment”. That moment has now arrived, with Barry Manilow featuring on standout album track, ‚Nobody‘.

The announcement of Closer follows the release of album singles ‚Zero‘, ‚Golden‘ feat. Two Another, and ‚My Night‘ feat. APRE, earlier this year. Claptone has also recently provided official remixes of Storm Queen’s ‚For A Fool‘, Trans-X’s ‚Living on Video‘, as well as reworks for pop superstars Ava Max, Dua Lipa, Michael Kiwanuka and Mark Ronson.

Away from the studio, Claptone continued to build upon his already momentous global appeal, performing over 50+ livestreamed sets across 2020 and 2021, with a staggering total of 63 million combined views on YouTube. There are also plans to return to the most famous club in the world, Pacha Ibiza, with his now internationally respected and much-loved event series, The Masquerade.

Claptone’s new album Closer will be released on November 12th.