Rufus Wainwright and Ampersounds release 'Technopera'

DJ's and producers Fred Falke and Zen Freeman, aka Ampersounds, have teamed up with GRAMMY Award-nominated
singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright for a boundary-pushing new collaboration. Their first single, 'Technopera' is out today via West End Records. The music video for the single, created by Daft Punk creative director (and one half of Daft Arts Crew) Cedric Hervet, has also been released.

Speaking exlusively to Variety about the project, Wainwright said: "I am super proud of the work that I did with Zen and Fred. It was liberating as a songwriter to have a platform to jump off from and only have to think about the melody and lyrics and let someone else create the track. It is unlike anything that I have ever done but somehow there still is a lot of Rufus in it. I hope that people will party to the tracks, safely of course, but we all deserve a little party I think.”

"Rufus is an exceptional talent," added Freeman and Falke, "and we had a fantastic time collaborating with him on this project. We created rich textures with strong electronic elements which we feel resonated perfectly with Rufus’ depth and intensity."

The video’s creator, Cédric Hervet, had already been exploring animations when Freeman and Falke asked him to listen to 'Technopera'. "As soon as I heard the song, I thought to myself that it could be the perfect concept for the music video, both simple and poetic," he said. "When they mentioned that they used an Oscilloscope synth I knew the stars had aligned. This animation was meant for this song."

Wainright is also set to host a virtual concert honouring Judy Garland's 99th birthday on June 10th.

Watch the video for 'Technopera' below.