Determined to broaden his audience, Michael Dawkins went for a different direction on his second EP. Having recorded lovers rock and roots-reggae songs for most of his career, the singer worked with new producers to achieve that goal.
His EP, Long For Brighter Views, was initially released in April by Orchard, a subsidiary of Sony Music. After a falling-out over distribution, he switched to DistroKid which re-released a remastered version of the five-song project one month later.
“I am expanding my fan base to a larger and wider demographic, so I added pop, Afro Beat and R&B with reggae elements to create a different sound,” Dawkins told Observer Online.
He recruited Gita Puspita, a rising producer from Indonesia, to help guide on that sojourn. She played most of the instruments on the EP, with support from David Downie of Hilltop Studio in Brooklyn, New York who played bass and drums.
The title track, Celebrate, Feelings of The Heart, You Are So Fine and Africa Rise are the songs on the EP.
“Everything came out well, there were some glitches with Orchard but so far, Long For Brighter Views (Remastered) has generated more than 1,000,000 streams,” said Dawkins.
Born in Kingston, Dawkins has been recording music since the 1980s. His previous songs include Don’t Give me No Crack and a cover of Bread’s Baby I’m A Want You.
In addition to his EPs, Dawkins has recorded two albums.
Howard Campbell