Gil sm and Avanti bring new life to a five-year-old track, transforming a moment from the dancefloor into a four-song EP shaped by electronic production, ethereal vocals, and Indian rhythms.
Five years ago, producer and DJ Gil sm brought an early version of “Finding Light” to Meadows in the Mountains, the Bulgarian mountain festival where he played alongside the Brighter Days Family collective, including IZCO and Reek0. The track captured a feeling that stayed with him. Years later, in New York City, a chance creative encounter with Mumbai-born singer and producer Avanti would give it a new life.
Rooted in Gil sm’s background in UK dance music and his work with Brighter Days Family, “Finding Light” began with a sensibility built for the dancefloor. When he and Avanti started working together in New York, her intimate, ethereal vocals and Indian rhythmic influences opened up a new direction for the track. What began as a revisiting of an older idea grew into a shared musical language, bringing together soulful electronic production, intricate rhythms, and a sense of expansiveness that feels equally at home in a club or a moment of quiet reflection.
The collaboration eventually grew into a four-song EP, expanding on the world of the title track. For Avanti, whose musical practice draws on her background in Indian classical dance and music alongside electronic production, the project offered space to bring these influences into conversation with Gil’s dancefloor sensibility. Together, they found a sound that feels both rooted and exploratory.
The EP’s visual identity extends this sense of intimacy. Its cover artwork, an original oil painting by artist An Huynh, gives the project a tangible, human centre, complementing the music’s layered textures and emotional warmth.
The second single from the EP, “Red and Jade,” is slated for release on 6 November, with the full EP following in December.
“Finding Light” is a meeting point between two artists, two musical perspectives, and a track that found its way back into the world at the right time. Five years after its first outing in the mountains of Bulgaria, it has become the starting point for something neither artist could have planned: a four-song collaboration built on instinct, shared curiosity, and the unexpected ways music brings people together.
