Check The Notes: Pavilion Xool Featuring Yunovation “I Still Smoke”

It takes skill to make a song leaning heavily on a sample from The Notebook work, but all credit to Pavilion Xool, whose “I Still Smoke” manages to do just that. The producer’s previous works bends heavily towards future-funk, but “I Still Smoke” features a woozy bed of synthesizers that whirr off, over which guest Yunovation sings and adds melodica melodies (more on that in a second). It’s a dreamy cut, even before the dialogue of two people shouting at each other comes in. Listen above.

The key to the song, though, is Yunovation, an Osaka artist best known for her melodica skills (documented in covers here and here). On “I Still Smoke,” she provides appropriately noir-ish sing-speak to the off-kilter electronic melody, and also presumably provides the melodica notes that pop up throughout, adding a unique character to the song (seriously…steel drums have been exhausted, melodica has gotta have a moment soon right?). She’s an artist to keep an eye on too, check out her melodica-house number “Fern 4.29” below.