It’s morning in Chicago. Luke Alexander sits in the back of an Uber headed to the airport. The sky is still that flat, early gray, and the city slides past the window in a blur of wet pavement and half-lit storefronts. Luke hasn’t really slept. He’s coming off a festival, his ears still ringing a little, his bag wedged between his feet.

On his phone is a track he’s only been working on for a quick second. He thinks it might be something, but he wants another set of ears on it, and there’s no studio anywhere in reach. This Uber is the closest thing to one he’s had all weekend.

So he plays what he has. The demo comes through the car’s speakers. It’s rough around the edges, a sketch more than a song, but it fills the car anyway as the Uber merges onto the expressway. Luke turns to the guy next to him and asks what he thinks.

That guy is Nate Rathbun. Most people know him as Audien.

That Uber ride became “7 Miles High.” Out now via Enhanced, the single pairs the melodic instincts behind Audien’s GRAMMY-nominated career and his Progressive House Never Died (PHND) movement with the grittier, groove-first house Alexander built in New York nightlife. For Audien, it’s a lean into house. For Alexander, it’s his first collaboration at this level after cutting his teeth in the city’s countless clubs.

We caught up with both artists as the first-day numbers were rolling in. They walked us through the demo’s evolution, New York’s mood swings, and why genre debates belong on ancestry.com.

Zac: How did you two initially cross paths and decide to work together on “7 Miles High”? Was there something specific about each other’s style that you felt would complement your own approach to making music?

Audien: Luke and I had talked about working on something together when the right idea came along, and luckily it landed for us super naturally in an Uber. I’ve always liked the energy and edge he brings to his music, and I thought combining that with my more melodic approach could lead somewhere interesting.

Luke: Funny story… We were on our way to the airport in an Uber after both playing a festival in Chicago. I was listening on the speakers in the Uber to this track that I had been working on for a quick second. The car was the closest thing to a studio I had that weekend. I asked Nate what he thought, and he gave great input, so I asked if he wanted to work on it with me and make it a collab. Nate brought the record to life after that. We went back and forth and landed where it is now, and I couldn’t be happier.

Zac: What did the earliest versions of “7 Miles High” sound like, and was there an immediate feeling that the track had found its identity, or was that something that had to develop a bit more over time?

Audien: When Luke first played the track for me, we knew it had lots of potential. We kept refining it until the production felt big and euphoric while still having his signature house sound driving it.

Luke: The earliest versions were pretty tame. By the time I got it to the version I shared with Nate, it had a lot more energy and legs to it. The goal was to make something modern that pushed the boundaries of what’s being done in dance-pop, while pulling from tech house, indie dance, and progressive house to create a real blend of both of our sounds. I think we did that pretty well, if I’m being honest.

Zac: How did each of you contribute to the production, and do you get the sense that there was a distinct element or creative decision that significantly shaped the direction of the record?

Audien: I think our different approaches are really what shaped the record. Luke brings a grittier edge to his production, and I naturally gravitate toward melody and emotion, so “7 Miles High” became a really nice meeting point between those two worlds.

Luke: I started out in the industry as a progressive house DJ, and as a fan of Nate’s music, so I trusted that his melodic, emotional sound would complement the techier side of what I do. I also wanted to give him the freedom to really influence the record and push it further into that melodic space.

Zac: Luke, the finished track has a definitive house feel. Was there ever some consideration to take a more progressive house approach that leans more toward the grand, emotional sound Audien is known for?

Luke: I’ve been a fan of progressive house since I was a kid, and I think this record pays homage to that sound in a really nice way without ever feeling predictable. To me, it meshes both worlds together really well. At the end of the day, genres don’t mean that much to me. The whole battle of what’s cool, what genre something belongs to, or which genre is somehow superior is corny. Make dope shit. Make people happy. Make people escape. Make people dance. If the record does all of that, who cares what you call it? Send it to ancestry.com and let them figure it out.

Zac: Audien, the uniquely euphoric sound of progressive house has become a massive part of your identity as an artist. How do you maintain that connection to the genre while exploring new styles?

Audien: Progressive house will always be a huge part of who I am as an artist. It’s the sound I fell in love with, and PHND has given me this incredible platform to keep celebrating it, but I also never want to feel limited to making one type of music. For me, it’s about keeping that emotion and energy at the core of what I do while giving myself the freedom to explore different sounds.

Zac: Luke, New York is a one-of-a-kind city with culture and flair like nowhere else in the world. How did your background in the city influence your approach to “7 Miles High”?

Luke: New York is fucking moody, dude. Some days you wake up and the city is gritty as shit and you feel like a gangster. Other days it’s aggressive, other days it’s artsy and futuristic, and then sometimes it feels like you’re living in a fucking rom-com. Sometimes it’s sad. The seasons completely change the emotion of the city, too. I think the record does the same thing. On the surface, it’s a happy song, but there’s this underlying moodiness to it that carries a lot more emotion. It really depends on where you’re at when you listen to it. It can feel freeing, it can feel healing, it can feel nostalgic, or it can feel sad. And then another day you put it on and it just makes you happy. I think New York has always had that same emotional ambiguity for me.

Zac: The track has some real energy and bounce. Can you elaborate on a few of the emotions you wanted to capture or experiences that were on your mind when creating “7 Miles High”?

Luke: It’s got the groove I’ve been pushing in my records, but there’s also a lot of that blog-house influence from the indie world of the 2010s and even before that. Then you have the vocal, which again plays such a huge role in defining the record. Those three things together are really the DNA of the song.

Zac: Audien, you’ve been expanding the PHND world this year, including three shows in New York in less than 30 hours this summer. First, what was that weekend like, and how do you feel that a track like “7 Miles High” fits into that bigger picture for you?

Audien: New York was a really special weekend. Getting to play three completely different shows in less than 30 hours and see the PHND community show up throughout the weekend was incredible. “7 Miles High” is definitely more house-driven than what people might traditionally associate with PHND, but that’s part of the bigger picture for me. PHND lets me continue championing progressive house while my own music can keep evolving and exploring new sounds.

Zac: Luke, what has this collaboration meant to you, and does it change or expand on what you plan to explore through your music next?

Luke: It’s definitely a milestone for me. It’s my first collaboration at this level, but what makes it more meaningful is that it happened with someone I consider family. There’s already a lot of overlap between our worlds. We share a manager and an agent, and there’s a real relationship between us, so it all feels pretty natural. But this wasn’t some coordinated play date where everyone said, “You guys have the same team, go make a record.” It was purely the right record, the right people, at the right time. Had I missed my flight that morning (which I almost did), I would not have been at our show and would not have been able to show Nate the demo. That’s how I want collaborations to happen.

As far as what comes next, I think it just reinforces the direction I’ve already been moving in. I want to keep making records that can live in different worlds without being overly concerned with where they’re supposed to fit. And I mean, I’m watching the numbers come in from the first 24 hours, and I’ve never had a record move this quickly out of the gate, so clearly we did something right.

Zac: After releasing “7 Miles High,” is there potential for another collaboration between the two of you sometime soon, or is the plan to let fans enjoy this on...

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