A share house hangout in Barcelona turned into one of the year's most infectious new pop tracks.
Melbourne composer Jack Quigley has dropped Sailing, the fourth single from his globe-spanning project Upstream Trilogy, out now.
The track was recorded at Nación Funk Studio in Barcelona by engineer Miguel Ferré, then produced back home in Naarm/Melbourne by Stefano Pizzolato, before being mixed and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Nick Herrera – with both Pizzolato and Herrera working across the entire trilogy.
Sailing is also the debut release from Colombian MC and musician Juan Pablo Ramírez, whose deep-voiced Spanish verses glide over an unusual additive time signature – six sets of three pulses followed by four sets of two – a rhythmic idea Quigley has said was inspired by The Stranglers’ 1981 track Golden Brown and its own hypnotic pull.
Sailing – Jack Quigley
- Artist: Jack Quigley
- Track: Sailing (feat. Juan Pablo Ramírez)
- Out: 4 September, here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
The single brings together Quigley’s songwriting with a cast of Barcelona musicians including Biel Solsona, Ferran Puertas, Eudald Font and Vernau Mier, while Argentinian vocalist Estefa Silvera adds a lighter touch that plays off Ramírez’s dry delivery.
Lyrically, the track leans into the idea of letting go – of surrendering to change, travel and uncertainty rather than fighting against it, a theme that runs through the wider Upstream Trilogy project.
That sense of movement extends to the accompanying music video, filmed and edited by Susana Rodríguez during Barcelona’s Festa Major de Gràcia, which follows Ramírez and his friends through the colour and community spirit of the street festival.
A closing scene captures engineer Miguel Ferré back at Nación Funk Studios, where Solsona, Puertas and Font laid down their parts.
Quigley has described Sailing as growing out of an anarcho-pop mindset he was chasing at the time – music built to be catchy and direct, but still leaving room for surprise.
Ramírez, for his part, was a housemate of Quigley’s in Barcelona back in July 2022, and the two would spend time listening to music together before Quigley suggested he try rapping over one of his beats.
The wider Upstream Trilogy is built from something bigger than any single song. While travelling and recording across four continents, Quigley put the same simple question to almost everyone he met: what does music mean to you, and why do you love it?
Those voice recordings, delivered in whatever language or style people chose, are woven throughout the trilogy’s 27 tracks, including two that bookend Sailing itself.
Sailing arrives as part of Volume 1 of the trilogy, with the full volume set to land in the next six weeks. Fans keen to get in early can pre-order it now via the Upstream Trilogy website.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Boss Fight PR.
