Following the releases of “Dark Places” feat. Kwesi and “Take Me Higher” feat. fknsyd, Manila Killa returns with a new single titled “Dusk”, featuring singer-songwriter Lights via Moving Castle. In addition, the Filipino LA-based producer is proud and excited to announce his highly-anticipated debut album of the same title that will drop this summer on July 21st.
“‘Dusk’ is a song that I always imagined to be played on the road leaving the city heading towards the desert. I made sure to encapsulate that feeling through my production, and reaching out to Lights to lay down the vocals was the missing piece to complete the song. This one’s special to me because I looked up to Lights and listened to her well before I began my music production journey, so it feels like a full circle moment to have her on the song. I’m hoping people feel a type of yearning emotion when listening to it as that’s what I’ve felt throughout the journey of creating this song over the last year,” Manila shares.
Exploring multitudes of flow and feelings, “Dusk” vividly captures the kinetic balance between the two artists’ individual graces. Lights’ fervent swoons bring the song lyrics to life, giving this track colourful imagery to go alongside Manila Killa’s refined sound design. Persistently delivering his novel muse whilst never having any two tracks sound the same, Manila Killa is relentlessly pushing the bounds of electronic music for himself.
Curated from an ideal scenario being played while escaping the city to something much quieter, “Dusk” delivers just that, with the announcement of his debut LP arriving on the heels of his massive success on both the streaming and touring front.
Surveying the wonders of cultures from across the globe, Chris Gavino, best known as Manila Killa is a well-traveled producer inspired by his cross-continental upbringing. A now decorated producer with an expansive repertoire of accolades, Manila Killa cut his musical teeth as a high schooler in the Philippines by combining self-taught Ableton lessons with a penchant for electronic music. Guided by emotion-driven soundscapes and the connective nature of melodic dance music, Manila Killa excels at synthesizing the foundations of human passion. In 2014, he formed the successful house duo Hotel Garuda and co-founded his own independent record label Moving Castle which has since housed acts like Robokid, Slow Magic, Khamsin, and many more.
Since his departure from Hotel Garuda in 2018, Manila Killa refined his solo craft with his 2019 debut EP ‘1993’ which garnered praise from media heavyweights like Billboard, Forbes and Ones To Watch, adding to a laundry list of critical-acclaim from tastemakers like Complex, Paper, and NYLON. With official remixes for Chvrches, The Knocks, Tegan and Sara, and performances at festivals like Firefly, Electric Zoo, 88rising’s Head in the Clouds, and more, Manila Killa is defined in equal parts as a producer, performer, and in-demand collaborator. Dedicated to the consciousness of contemporary dance music, Manila Killa is distilling years of passionate experience and expertise to unveil his debut album in the summer of 2022.
Currently, Manila’s Top 10 Streaming Markets worldwide include Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Singapore.