Alain and Stéphane Quême, or Alan Braxe and DJ Falcon, are indisputable architects of the French Touch - the emotive house music conjured from looped samples with an inimitable Gallic flare that emerged from Paris in the mid-90s.
 
Now, these two originals present their first ever collaboration as Braxe + Falcon in the form of the ‘Step By Step EP’, released on Smugglers Way. The release represents a sublime distillation of their shared musical essence, a revelatory realization and a compelling expansion only conceivable for them at this point in time.
 
It opens with ‘Step By Step’, an ecstatic vocal drone with a pleading chord progression of syrupy synthesizer, as if Braxe’s ‘In Love With You’ had been baking on the dashboard for a quarter of a century. The production alone is hypnotic, with the addition of a vocal from noted French Touch fan, Panda Bear. The track transcends anything in the catalogues of all three artists to something completely majestic, resplendent in its glowing, lush simplicity.