You may recognize Ry X's chest from his previous videos: shirts are not really his thing. It's not surprising, given he was raised in a tiny Australian village yards from the ocean and has ended up living in California by way of Costa Rica—and there is certainly something stripped-down and unadorned about the falsetto that has become his trademark, both on solo work like 2013's haunting "Berlin," last year's breakup ballad "Sweat" and the music he performs with his band The Acid. 

This new single "Signs" finds Ry reprising another creative outlet: his partnership with German producer Frank Wiedemann, which was the spark in 2012 for the keening underground dance anthem "Howling." In many ways it's an incongruous union. Wiedemann—also one half of house duo Âme—was raised in Germany's capital of technology, Karlsruhe, the birthplace of Karl Benz, who invented the motor car; it's not a town with too many surfer dudes, but they know a thing or two about structure and programming. 

Now the yin and yang duo are releasing an album under the name Howling. How do two figures from such different worlds combine their talents? For Frank, working with Ry is as much about what he omits as what he puts in: "We made the album on-the-go—in Berlin, LA, Miami, Bath, and Lake Constance in Switzerland. Often we had many layers and then cut them to reduce each song to the elemental, the essence of what's important. It's the opposite of how I work with Âme."

He enjoys the mutual respect that has grown up between him and Ry. "I think he was surprised to hear the different direction that techno or house music can take—it's not just raves and EDM. For me, I was just immediately touched by his voice. It is outstanding. I do not know how to describe it in words. His guitar makes a special sound too. The studio engineer said, 'Please exchange this instrument!' But the hum, the little irregularities and mistakes: this is what I love about the album."

Tom Horan is Editor-at-Large at NOWNESS.