As a company that revolves around a common love of music, it may not come as much of a surprise that some of Marmoset’s most talented artists lie right between our brick walls. In-house Composer and self-proclaimed “Belieber,” Graham Barton recently teamed up with Studio Manager by day, superstar singer by night, Frankie Simone, to produce a killer track for Graham’s side pop-project, Distance. The finished track “Livin’ It Up in the Summer,” landed a spot at New York Fashion Week in September 2016 in the #TOMMYNOW show with Gigi Hadid. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with thousands of views on the YouTube recap and a comment section flooded with, “Anyone know what the name of this song is?” — not to mention shots of T-Swift bobbing her head in the audience. Well, world (and Taylor), we know the name of the song and we got the minds behind it to sit down together to talk about bringing this track to life.
“Livin’ it up in the Summer” was born from a history of collaboration between Graham and Frankie.
“When Frankie was hired here, we instantly became friends, and I found out she was an amazing singer,” says Graham. “We had the chance to work on a theme song for TJ Maxx and that didn’t go through… that was the first time we worked together, and it was a great experience that we wanted to take a step further.” And take it further they did.
With carefree, fun lyrics like, “Say what you want, like it or not, Imma keep on dancing,” delivered by Frankie’s soaring vocals, “Living It up in the Summer” channels the vibes of summer pop-anthems like “California Girls” and “Call Me Maybe,” acting as a departure from Graham’s everyday compositions. “Basically, I needed an outlet for pop music,” Graham continues. “I’ve been working on a lot of different projects that call for organic, indie, or even hip-hop and metal, and I found a lot of projects didn’t really call for full-blown pop. There’s a lot of inspiration out there as far as pop goes — a lot of mine just came from listening to what’s hot.” The result of Graham’s inspiration: an energetic ode to making the most of summer, with an infectious energy that could make even a Swiss Guard dance.
For artists, such as Frankie and Graham, an opportunity to hear one’s voice on an international stage doesn’t present itself that often, if ever. And although Graham has written hundreds of songs for various forms of media, “Living It Up in the Summer” was his first time composing a song that made it to the runway. “A lot of the time the projects I make music for are 30 seconds here or 60 seconds there… these are the kinds of opportunities I like to see happening for sure,” Graham says.
Ranging from art installations and dance performances to high-profile fashion shows, the chance to pair music with live art appears vast and waiting to be uncovered. As Graham and Frankie suggest, performance art seems to be an alternative avenue for indie artists to get their music heard.
“It’s a huge market for incredible music to be showcased and for a lot of people to hear it,” Frankie mused. In response, Graham agreed, “I think there’s always some way for two art forms to synch up.
While “Living It up in the Summer” is behind them but as far as Distance goes, expect to hear more danceable, infectious tracks from these two in the near future. They have a range of different projects in the works and we can’t wait to see what they do next