One of those songs that have you hooked is “Keep You Close” from the group Fanta Vibez and Gasoline Monk. It’s a lovely track and a turn into love, comfort and emotional safety, after the emotional roller coaster ride of PROJECT RED, it feels right from the first second!
The song is very effortless, fitting the bedroom pop, indie R&B, and the shoegaze seamlessly. There is no forced or over-done sound. The lighting is soft, warm and relaxing. Every word is felt in Fanta Vibez’s voice as she sings from the heart with a love and positivity the listener can feel and relate to in her present life. That energy is perfectly complemented by the warm basslines, dreamy melodies and layers that make Gasoline Monk so emotional.
The most special thing about this song is that it’s honest. It doesn’t work very hard. It’s simplicity that makes it so potent. It’s quiet, there’s intimacy all the way through, feels like it was written just for you.
There can be no doubt that chemistry has happened between these two artists, and their creative evolution together is thrilling to watch. You can feel the warmth, connection and humanity in Keep You Close. A true beauty of a work!
Listen to Keep You Close
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“Keep You Close” feels like a really warm and intimate release compared to the themes explored on PROJECT RED. Did this song arrive naturally after working through those heavier emotions, or did it surprise you creatively?
Fanta: It would definitely have to be a hybrid – Project Red was done a while before, so I was in a completely different space when “Keep You Close” was created. I’d experienced a lot of love and positivity in my life leading up to it. Those experiences inspired it, and I was surprised that it all just came unplanned in one day in the studio.
The track blends bedroom pop, indie R&B, and shoegaze textures in a way that feels very organic. What was the first sonic idea or feeling that shaped the direction of the song?
Fanta: The love that I have in my life right now. It was easy, natural to flow, coming from a personal place of my true emotions. It came very naturally.
Monk: Fanta and I have made about a dozen songs together and I love that no two really sound the same. We both have the lanes we’re most known for, but when we work together we really stretch into wherever we want to go. After doing “Could Be The Problem” I knew I loved the way Fanta approached that kind of music and just wanted to keep feeding her.
Gasoline Monk, you’ve mentioned influences like Bloc Party and Rx Bandits playing a role in your creative mindset here. How did revisiting those early inspirations change the way you approached the production?
Monk: A big part of running Monk’s Temple Records is producing different styles for different artists. It’s given me permission to not just be a hip hop producer. I grew up playing bass in bands and was obsessed with bands like Rx Bandits, At the Drive-In. The sense of melody and feel associated with that music is really deep in my bones, so it’s like a playground when I get to make it, and even though I’m a pretty mellow, grown guy, there will always be something about that energy of teenage angst that I love channeling into music.
Fanta, this song is rooted in the experience of finally finding safe and healthy love. Was it emotionally difficult to write something so personal knowing the person it was about was sitting in the studio during the recording?
Fanta: I was excited because it was kind of like a small gift to him, without really saying anything or announcing it. I wasn’t expecting the song to come out like it did. I was just so in my vibe. When it finally got recorded, I couldn’t wait to see his reaction. He said he got up out of his seat in the studio and was like, “Whoa this song is about me.”
You’ve both built a strong reputation through Monk’s Temple Records and Boston’s independent scene. How has growing together as collaborators and label owners strengthened your chemistry as artists?
Fanta: It’s allowed us to get to learn more about the community that we’re creating for. It’s allowed us to immerse ourselves in creativity at all times. It’s kept us consistent in the art – even if we’re not creating for ourselves, we’re always putting things together for other people to showcase their talents. It keeps us grounded, afloat, and motivates us to keep going. And actually we’re such a great team, because we really get it, and we have the same vision.
Monk: Fanta is my best friend. When we met, we’d really just be hanging out in the studio or at shows. Now we just enjoy going out together and having fun, and we know more about what’s going on in each other’s lives than most people. So I think really coming together as people over the years makes our work together as musicians come from a place of, “Hey, I SEE you, I know this is what you need right now.”
“Could Be The Problem” introduced fans to a more indie rock-inspired direction, and now “Keep You Close” pushes that even further. What has been the most exciting part of evolving beyond the neo-soul sound people first connected with?
Fanta: I’m getting to the point of my artistry where I’m learning my comfort zone, learning my own space. It’s gotten me to be open, really wide-eyed about the experience of being an artist and mastering your craft. You can really go down just one lane and I stuck to what I was most comfortable with for a while – but being able to explore these different genres and do beautiful work in them is really just proof to myself that I’m growing as an artist.
Monk: One night Fanta was in a song contest put on by the Sound Lab and “Could Be The Problem” won. It was an event where really the neo-soul stuff she’d always been doing would have been much more likely to win. We realized, okay we’re doing something different here but people are coming with us. We’re gonna do an EP in this genre, you’ve already heard half the songs.
There’s a real sense of closeness and honesty throughout the track. How important was it for the recording process to feel raw and authentic rather than overly polished?
Fanta: My song itself and the beat collided so well together with my vocal range. We don’t need to make it sound special… because of the rawness and the energy it’s giving in its simplicity, we were like, “This is beautiful, this is art.” We didn’t even need to do much in post. It’s one of those things where it’s like, “If it’s not broken, why fix it?” It sounded great when we recorded it. Overdoing it could make it lose its essence. We wanted it to sound like you’re singing in the car with your friends driving down the highway. We wanted it to sound relatable.
Monk: I’m always learning to do less, and do the little I do better than before. I’ve killed mixes by overworking them, for sure. This song sounded so good the moment Fanta was in the booth laying down vocals. I probably did a final mix in an hour or less, it was light work. Sometimes you need to do that to keep the organic feeling of a song.
Gasoline Monk handled bass, keys, guitars, and drum programming on the track. When building productions like this, do you usually start from rhythm, melody, or atmosphere first?
Monk: One thing when Fanta and I go down this road genre-wise is, I love building around a warm, melodic bass played with a pick. I’ve been playing bass for over 20 years now, almost never with a pick… but for some reason when Fanta and I do indie rock-ish stuff that’s where I start. I don’t do that for anything else.
Artists like Frank Ocean, SZA, Smino, and Willow Smith all bring emotional vulnerability into experimental sounds. How have those influences inspired the way you both approach storytelling and genre blending?
Fanta: Those particular artists are known, but still come with an underground approach. Their art is niche, a particular sound, geared towards what I would consider “hippies.” People in tune with their emotions, with who they are… the way these artists put themselves out there inspires the way we do it. We always just want to create a vibe.
Monk: All of those artists create their own world, and embrace oddity in their music. We love weird sounds, weird harmonies, rhythms that aren’t right where you expect them to be.
Monk’s Temple Records has become a big part of Boston’s creative community. As you continue releasing music and performing around the city, where do you see this new sound taking Fanta Vibez x Gasoline Monk next?
Fanta: That’s up to God. This was unexpected. The best thing we could do right now is feed off where the listeners decide to take us. We’re here for our people, our community, our audience. So the best step is just to wait and see.
Monk: We’ll always be exploring together, testing the boundaries of our comfort zones. As for the label, we have a team of creatives working with us and the mission is to bring everybody up to the place where they keep the lights on with music, feed their kids, pay their bills. Boston music is a true renaissance right now, there’s so much talent here, and we’re a part of that story.
