TO YOU, BY US (VOL. 1)

TO YOU, BY US (VOL. 1)

For his debut album, Lebanese Australian producer Tobiahs Fakhri made a point of bringing his fans into the process. After making his name by fusing emotive vocal hooks, pop melodies and house mechanics on tracks like the platinum-certified “Lifetime”, Fakhri chose these eight inclusions based directly on feedback from listeners. He played a demo of the silky yet insistent “Angel of Mine” on tour—encouraging everyone to post their reactions to it on social media—and debuted “Alone” at sunset on Sydney Harbour. Even more strikingly, he persuaded Feloney Davis of Chicago R&B group Public Announcement to rerecord his vocal part from their 1998 track of the same name so it could find new life as an uplifting sample. Similar in spirit is the opening “Baby Come Over”, which leans into its unusually soulful vocals while Fakhri deploys cool melodic sprinklings over a steady pulse. By focusing on the palpable feelings conveyed by the vocals and lyrics he cherry-picks, he deepens the appeal of his compact creations. With telling titles like “Before You Broke My Heart” and “You Don’t Love Yourself”, these tracks each impart something emotionally substantial in only a few minutes.