Just two weeks ago, we caught up with M07 to talk about his new live performance project, SIGNAL, and how leaving Ukraine changed his relationship with music. There was plenty to unpack, particularly after twenty-five years of keeping most of his work to himself. Now, the LA-born producer is back with Huggin & Kissin (All Over Again), released today via his Key Factory imprint. This time, he revisits a song that accompanied him through a particularly significant period of his life, joining forces with Big Black Delta to give it a new interpretation.
Originally released in 2011, Huggin & Kissin remains the biggest hit from Jonathan Bates’ electronic project, Big Black Delta. Its appearance in the first season of The Sinner, starring Jessica Biel, introduced it to an even wider audience, helping the track surpass forty million streams. Now, M07 brings it into club territory, preserving Bates’ distinctive vocals while introducing a driving house rhythm, crisp percussion and uplifting synths.
“I was listening to Huggin & Kissin in Kyiv in 2013 while the Euromaidan protests unfolded roughly a mile from my apartment,” M07 recalls. “Years later, as I was developing my new live performance film SIGNAL, it came back to mind.” The connection between the original’s melodic sensibility and the darker electronics he was exploring eventually led him to approach Bates about reworking the track.
During our recent conversation, M07 reflected on how his years in Ukraine had shaped his relationship with music. “Sometimes I just want to write to forget, or make something someone else can get lost in for a few minutes. There’s room for both,” he told us. His words feel particularly relevant to this release, which brings back memories of a country where he spent almost a decade before leaving with his family in 2022.
The release comes just weeks after the premiere of SIGNAL, his live performance film shot in an abandoned circus in Vietnam, which sold out four screenings at Amsterdam’s Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski during Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE). M07 plans to take the project on an international tour in 2027.
