Stunning. In a word: stunning. That’s all I could manage after the first listen to “Love Is All We Need,” the numbingly, achingly beautiful electronic sonnet from the duo of producer and DJ Öona Dahl and vocalist Kirsty Hawkshaw.

Released in February on Hawkshaw’s Wellhead, “Love Is All We Need” marks the first collaboration between Dahl and former Opus III vocalist Hawkshaw. The two met for the first time only a year ago and recorded the single at Hawkshaw’s house.

“Everything on the release we did on our own,” Öona says, “from production, to artwork, to the music video, to press. This kept everything pure and untouched.”

Recorded near Stonehenge (and with a video on location at the prehistoric monument to come), “Love Is All We Need” is flush with emotion, with the passionate longing of a classic ballad by Sade blended with an almost ethereal electronic psychedelia. We asked Öona about the making of the track for our newish feature The Teardown, inside the making of some new and classic electronic music tracks. Listen right here or on Spotify and listen to and pick up the Öona Dahl remix on JunoDownload:

Kirsty Hawkshaw is a legendary figure in the scene and it seems from your instagram that you know each other beyond an artistic collaboration? How long have you known each other and when did you meet?

I know, people even think we are sisters but, we actually met only a couple years ago. Music brought Kirsty and I together. One of the songs that got me into electronic dance music was Opus III’s “It’s A Fine Day”. To this day, the ethereal embodiment of the song still resonates within me. Kirsty found the frequency and reached out to me in 2018 after hearing my music.

In January of 2019 she came to my Fabric gig in London and we got along instantly… Now we talk everyday… its crazy.

This song has an upbeat title but it really pulls something out of you both – there’s a longing or a haunting, obsessive feeling to “Love Is All We Need,” especially this original mix. There must be a story behind this, beyond a beautiful melody…

We like to say that the song is “a message to the world”… a serenade that sings to the planet… to us.

We did not plan this when writing the track… Melodies and inspirations come to us when we are deeply focused in the moment, creating. Some may come from the source we choose to receive from and one place Kirsty likes to focus on is somewhere in the direction of the Vega star system.

Where was this recorded? Were you working together in the same room when you recorded this? Is there more from these sessions together or was this a one-shot collaboration?

We recorded “Love Is All We Need” at her house in a small village outside London near Amesbury and Stonehenge.

There’s a couple more tracks in the works and another one we just finished called “Serenity” that will be out later this year.

What hardware or software did you use?

Access Virus TI, organic sounds we recorded, Logic… and Kirsty’s voice.

What was your reason for releasing “Love Is All We Need” on Kirsty’s label, Wellhead?

DIY. Everything on the release we did on our own from production, to artwork, to the music video, to press. This kept everything pure and untouched.

What’s next for you?

We recorded a music video at Stonehenge in January for “Love Is All We Need”. I’ve already begun the editing process and it should be ready in the next month or so I am hoping. After that we’ll be back in the studio finishing our next EP. Our plan is to do a few shows together this summer where we will perform our songs live.

Love Is All We Need. Follow Öona Dahl on SoundCloud, Instagram and at @OonaDahl on Twitter. Follow Kirsty Hawkshaw on Instagram and Spotify.

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