Especial continues its mission to find different takes on club music, presenting a perfect pop-dance moment, Be Honest.

Produced by long-time friends, DJ, diggers and artists Lipelis and Arsenii, their collaboration is an 80s New York inspired dream of superlative production and programming wrapped around a love-forlorn vocals from guest Gayana.

Laying down a demo one hazy Moscow summer afternoon nearly a decade ago, the original was a simple instrumental boogie jam recorded live to a 4-track tape recorder.

Soft keys, melancholic melody, Paul Simpson “Easy Street” dub bassline, tight drums and hats all bore the hallmarks of Lipelis. Dusting down old drives in a new studio during lockdown and bringing this gift back to life, Leonid sent a rough mix to vocalist Gayana.

Having produced a remix for her that ended up a big DJ Harvey play – a standout on his Sound Of Mercury Rising (Volume II) compilation – she was the perfect choice to bring the jam to life.

Gayana’s heartfelt lyrics, a timely and pertinent call for truth and compassion, the electro-jam morphed into a beautiful song. Realising they had something unique, Lipelis crafted first a live mix desk dub and instrumental to follow an analogue path.

Guided by a desire to present the music as the full package it warrants, a video was specially produced and released in summer 2020. Here, Especial appears, a long-standing friendship with Leo led to the idea to craft a vinyl release was conceived.

Now based in Belgrade and New York, Lipelis and Arsenii produce their own remixes respectively. The 12” Dance mix offering from Lipelis gives the DJ world that nigh perfect (breaks’n’vox) Summer of Love anthem to move you from sunset to sunrise, festival to basement, while Arsenii’s Dubplate VIP is a stunning drum and bass version that nods to the smooth (“intelligent”) period of Bukem and Reese with aplomb, bringing finally, this wonderful song to the world.