Review
Genre and Mood
KANT and Leo Stannard stretch out on Close to the Wire (Club Remix), a version of almost seven minutes that leans fully into deep house and electronic club territory. Its mood is melancholic, hypnotic and emotive, the kind of track that makes a crowded dance floor feel suddenly reflective without ever losing its pulse. It is house music with a songwriter’s heart.
Song Summary
The song is about living on the edge of something, emotionally stretched and close to breaking. Leo Stannard’s voice, soft but strained, carries that tension; he co-wrote and co-produced the song with KANT. EARMILK, premiering the original in June 2016, described a blend of “piano chord melancholy” in the manner of Moby, singer-songwriter influences, live instruments and a subtle groove, “soulful, alluring and laid back”. The club remix keeps those piano chords at the centre and sets them on a steady four-on-the-floor beat, turning the song into a long, rolling track rather than a radio single.
Musical Breakdown
The remix is built for DJs: long, gradual and carefully layered, saving its emotional peak for the moment the groove is fully established.
Intro
A clean kick and shuffling hats open the track, giving DJs a long runway before any melody appears.
Build-up
A deep bassline and soft pads join, with piano fragments drifting in to hint at the song’s mood.
Main Section
The full piano chords and Leo Stannard’s vocal arrive, heartfelt and close, floating over the groove so that the melancholy and the momentum feel inseparable.
Bridge
The drums drop away for a breakdown, leaving voice and piano exposed, a moment of stillness that makes the return of the beat hit harder.
Climax
The groove comes back at full strength with the vocal hook repeated, the emotional and rhythmic peak of the track.
Outro
Elements fall away one by one until only the beat remains, ready to be mixed into whatever comes next.
Concepts in Focus
This is a remix by the original artists themselves. The song was written as a laid-back, piano-led track; KANT’s club version, released as an extended club remix, rebuilds it for DJs with a long drum-only intro, a gradual build and an outro that thins back to the beat. Comparing the two shows how much of a track’s purpose is decided by arrangement rather than by melody or lyric.
The emotional centre is the breakdown. When the drums drop out, the listener suddenly hears the song as a song again, voice and piano alone, and the return of the kick feels like being picked back up. Under everything else lies a four-on-the-floor kick, a bass drum on every beat, which is what lets a sad vocal work on a dance floor: the body has a steady pulse to follow while the voice carries the hurt. For a related balance of songwriting and club pulse, compare Jan Blomqvist – Time Again.
Artistic Context
KANT is a Copenhagen-based production team with roots in the underground scene, known for melodic deep house and for remixes of artists such as Jessie J and NERO; before Black Butter they had released on Toolroom, Suara and FFRR, and their earlier downtempo vocal single Nightcall also came out on Black Butter. Leo Stannard is a British singer-songwriter who had just collaborated with Kidnap Kid on “Moments”. “Close to the Wire” was premiered on 10 June 2016 and released on the Close to the Wire EP, which carries this club remix.
Impact and Reception
Its premiere coverage compared the piano melancholy to Moby, and the club remix gives DJs a longer, more patient way into the song. It earns its place here for the way it balances sadness and drive. Listen through to the breakdown and feel the beat bring you back.
