Review
Genre and Mood
Bakermat and Alex Clare made Living (feat. Alex Clare) in 2016, and Dutch Wikipedia sums it up as a deep house song with a summer sound. It is house music in its uplifting, carefree mode: a dance single built around a soul voice.
Song Summary
Living came out digitally on 15 July 2016 on Dirty Soul, the label that had released Bakermat’s earlier single Teach Me as a division of Be Yourself Music; the official video followed in September, licensed to B1 Recordings, a Sony Music company. The single runs 3:17, and the digital release also carried an extended mix of 4:51. Bakermat’s music, in Wikipedia’s words, mixes dance, soul, jazz, funk, gospel and pop, and here the soul comes from his guest: Alex Clare, the English singer best known for Too Close.
Musical Breakdown
No review we found describes Living part by part, so this page follows what the sources say about its ingredients.
The Voice
Clare grew up on his father’s jazz records and on blues and soul singers such as Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder, and later on drum and bass, dubstep and UK garage. Listen for that soul training in a dance setting.
The Sound
Deep house with a summer sound, the melodic side of house that Bakermat helped make popular.
The Versions
The 3:17 single for radio and video, the 4:51 extended mix for DJs.
Concepts in Focus
A <a href=“https://korczis.github.io/sonic-playground/concept/featured-artist/” class=“concept-link font-medium text-primary-700 underline decoration-dotted underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-solid dark:text-primary-400” data-concept=“featured-artist” title=“A guest performer credited on another artist’s track, usually as “feat.”: a rapper’s verse, a singer’s hook or a second voice. Features bring together different styles and audiences and are central to hip-hop, R&B and dance music.“>featured artist is a guest credited on another artist’s track, and in dance music the arrangement is classic: the producer owns the record, the singer gives it a face and a voice. Living is credited to Bakermat featuring Alex Clare, a singer whose own hit had reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The extended mix exists for the club. Its extra 94 seconds give a DJ room to mix in and out, while the shorter single suits radio, video and the commercials that used the song.
Artistic Context
Bakermat is Lodewijk Fluttert, born in 1991, who started DJing while studying psychology at Utrecht University. His 2012 EP Vandaag, built on a sample of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, became a hit across Europe, and Wikipedia credits his approach with inspiring a wave of melodic and tropical house producers. In 2016 he released the Games and Ballade EPs before Living, and in October he founded the label Big Top Amsterdam. Hear where his sound went next in Bakermat – The River.
Impact and Reception
Living became a small hit in the Netherlands, reaching number 4 on the Tipparade, and number 38 on the Flemish Tipparade. It was used in several commercials, including one for Suzuki, and appeared on dance compilations across Europe. It is here for its summer: put it on when the days get long.
