Easing us through the depths of March, we welcome Emotional Tourist back into the XYZ fold. Since the soaring reception to his remix of DSF’s Pouf, the Bucharest-bred producer has been firmly in the crosshairs as one to watch in 2021. After making waves last summer with a supreme EP on Kindisch, the Romanian released a stunning edit of Sade to claim our nod as one of the tracks of the year. We think he’s making some of the best deep and melodic sounds around, and we’re thrilled to showcase his immense quality with The Day the World Meets You.

The EP’s namesake opens with crisp drums, before warming to lush melodies and fluttering instrumentals. Emotional Tourist connects with a label favorite – Amega – on vocal duty. She steals the spotlight with a powerful performance, balancing cutting prose with undeniable emotion. A hearty kick ensures memorable dancefloor moments a-plenty for this one. 

Vinyl Affair rolls into the b-side slot, offering the grooviest production of the bunch. A revolving breakbeat frames punchy bass throbs, forming a sturdy backbone which never relents. Fluttering melodies come to play during the bridge, showcasing Emotional Tourist’s mastery of the build. A tune for the two-step.

Alfama closes out the project, drawing inspiration from its predecessors. Soft vocals and a delicate string arrangement greet piano stabs, complimenting an ever-present drum rhythm. It’s classic Emotional Tourist, and rounds out an EP that touches upon everything we love about the Romanian. Melodic music from a warm soul – what more could we ask for?

To celebrate the release of Emotional Tourist’s first EP with XYZ, we caught up with the Romanian to touch base on the craziness of the world, and the serenity his music provides amongst all that is happening.

WWD – Cosmin, many thanks for joining us today!

Emotional Tourist – Heya! Thank you for the invite, guys, I am really glad we’re doing this interview!

WWD – We couldn’t be happier with how this project came together. We feel it’s the perfect summary of the music we have come to love from you. In three words, what would you say are the most defining characteristics of Emotional Tourist productions?

Emotional Tourist – Well, it might come as a surprise, but the first word that pops in my mind is “emotional”, which for me represents the essence of every project started under Emotional Tourist alias. The other two words would be “warmth” and not quite there, but in progress, “experimental”.

WWD – Amega performance on the A-side really hits home. How does your process shift when working with such a talented vocalist?

Emotional Tourist – I’ve been planning for a long time now to work with a vocalist, but I have never seemed to take the next step further. So after Guthrie’s suggestion to have a collab track with a singer on the EP for XYZ, he introduced me to Amega. I instantly felt a click when I first heard “Myopic”, one of her tracks, and then it was when I knew we can make something really awesome out of the collaboration. The idea was pretty simple, I just held off from the intensity of the track (melodics, especially) just to make room for her beautiful voice, so I can say the track was built around Amega’s vocals.

WWD – Sade, of course, is another example of supreme female vocal prowess. Your edit of her classic tune, I Never Thought I’d See The Day, struck a chord with so many throughout the scene last year. What led you to make the blissful edit with Interlude, who seems to be a constant collaborator and friend of yours?

Emotional Tourist – I grew up with Sade’s music, as I’m sure many of us did, and I had a soft spot for this song, in particular, since the moment I’ve first heard it.

I was in the studio with one of my dearest friends, Interlude, working on a new project after a very productive couple of weeks where we finished two other collab tracks, “Doină” and “Woodstock 69” and the project itself led us to the edit. It was supposed to be another original track, but I guess this is the fun part in music production: there are times you should control the direction of your projects, and some other times you just have to let the projects take their own path and just go with it. It may turn out to be better than expected.

WWD – You also make music under another alias – Andrew Case. What differentiates the two projects in terms of sound?

Emotional Tourist – Andrew Case is the beginning of my journey in music production. This alias represents my first finished track, my first gig, my first real “I love you” told at an event on the beach, at sunrise. The root of the inspiration for Emotional Tourist. I am inclined to say that with Andrew Case I explore more the progressive part of the music production. I couldn’t say there is much of a difference in terms of sound, I think under Andrew Case I like to bring more in front the synths, the electronic part of the track, while under Emotional Tourist the tracks have a specific warmth.

WWD – The Romanian scene has been hugely influential in minimal and melodic forms of house music and techno for many years now. Who are some of the compatriots that have influenced your journey thus far?

Emotional Tourist – The Romanian scene is most certainly known for its minimal form of house music, this is how Micro House was actually created. Of course, I could not pass through this answer without mentioning names as [a:rpia:r] (Rhadoo, Petre Inspirescu, Raresh), Mihai Popoviciu, Amorf/SIT, Herodot, and so many others, but I think the most influenced that I am is by my closest friends, the crews of Deep House Bucharest and We Love Progressive, meaning Bross, Interlude, Oscar, Silence Path, Alex & Mircea Babescu, Valid, Arisen to name just a few. I consider myself lucky to have met them, together we managed to create a small community here by organizing events and promoting Deep House, Organic and Progressive House music. We are constantly pushing each other to become better through our productions, projects, visions. So, yeah, my closest friends have the biggest influence on me.

WWD – How was the last year in Romania? Were you able to find solace and creativity through everything?

Emotional Tourist – Last year was a breakthrough, production-wise. I mean, there wasn’t another option left, in my opinion. It was the upside of all of the pandemic and restrictions. Honestly, I think it was the most productive year for me until now. I was able to reflect and focus more on myself, which I guess/hope led to an improvement.

WWD – How do you foresee the music industry changing in the long term due to the impact of the pandemic?

Emotional Tourist – Sadly, having the events stopped during the pandemic affected the music industry, as expected. A lot of good music is being left unplayed and people (both DJs and event attendees) are reluctant to search for music. Sure, we focused more on live streams, but it’s not the same. Nothing compares to a nice venue, interaction with other people who share the same passion for music. I think until things are starting to get back to normal, the interest of people in music will not be as high as it was before the pandemic.

WWD – Which artist, tracks, and labels have been constants on your headphones during the last couple of months?

Emotional Tourist – Moderat, Guy J and anything from Lost & Found, Bross, Interlude, Silence Path (as I constantly listen to their ongoing projects) and very recently Lab’s Cloud, which is simply wow! Pretty much everything from these guys. I do listen to a lot of “non-electronic” music lately.

WWD – Vinyl Affair’s melodic breakbeat brings such a heady groove. We have to ask – what’s behind the name?

Emotional Tourist – Vinyl Affair represents my respect for analog music, I do have an unfulfilled passion for vinyls, maybe because I didn’t listen as much as I would’ve wanted to analog music, so the thought of vinyl sounds like an affair to me, right now. I am looking forward to changing this from an affair to something more official in the near future.

WWD – What exciting things are coming up on the radar for you – anything you can clue us in on?

Emotional Tourist – I have some exciting upcoming collabs scheduled for this year, one in particular finished a while ago, with Izhevski, called “La Rambla” and some other work in progress projects, revisits and also considering to start working on an album. So a pretty busy schedule, hopefully.

WWD – Cosmin, thanks again for everything my friend. You are an absolute pleasure to work with, a talented artist, and most importantly – a true gentleman. Congratulations on the stunning EP, and we can’t wait to connect again in the future 🙂

Emotional Tourist –  It’s always a pleasure to work with you guys, I feel already like your crew became family to me. Thank you for your continuous support and for believing in me, this EP is the result of a beautiful collaboration. What you are doing with your label is an inspiration to me and I am sure that for other artists too. Keep doing this amazing job! Hugs!

Emotional Tourist – The Day the World Meets You EP [XYZ031]
Release Date – 03.19.21
Stream – https://xyzlabel.lnk.to/EmotionalTourist

Connect with XYZ – https://linktr.ee/wwd.xyz
Stream releases in full via Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2uDd07z

Connect with Emotional Tourist
Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/emotional-tourist
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/viaemotionaltourist
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/emotionaltourist/