Irish electro artist and producer Daithí has identified himself as one of the countries most stylistically diverse acts performing at the moment. Blending a powerful mix of synth-pop, electro and looping techniques into an sonically expansive melting pot.
Daithí spoke to theLastMixedTape.com ahead of his set at Tony Clayton-Lea’s Culture Vultures night in the Odessa Club on May 15th about his studio process and forthcoming début album.
You are currently working on your debut album. How will the sound of the record compare to your previous work?
Compared to my last E.P it’s worlds apart, but the recent singles I’ve released give a hint to what it’s going to be like. It has lots of great vocal features, big poppy dance songs, and a couple of energetic instrumentals. The main aim of the album is to get people moving, it’s all written with the live environment in mind.
Your recent single ‘Have To Go’ saw a real expansion in your sound both stylistically and in terms of sound. How does this track in particular hint at your upcoming album?
Thank you! I think it is, Have To Go has a real ‘hands in the air’ feeling, and I think Jesse Boykins III added a lot to the vocal, really brought it from a strong pop song to something a little cooler. It’s a lot of fun to play live!
You have in the past worked as a producer on other musicians projects. How does this compare to self production?
I think it’s a good bit different, I’ve always worked with a producer myself, so I get to see both sides of the coin and learn from that.
Self production is way more personal, it’s almost like using a different part of your brain. You are channeling your own creativeness and inspiration way more than when you are producing someone else’s work.
Working on other people’s music as a producer is a strange feeling, because even though you’re pretty involved in the whole creation process it never really feels like your work, you kind of make yourself a gateway for somebody else’s creativity, you’re trying to show somebody’s work in the best possible light. There is a real sense of accomplishment in doing that, and I can definitely see myself doing more in the future.
You have collaborated with a plethora of Irish artists in the past. Will there be a collaborative feel to the album as well?
Absolutely, There are only two tracks out of the ten that don’t have someone featuring! I really enjoy working with other people, especially vocalists, because they add so much to a song, and having different voices on the album really makes each of the songs unique.
When it comes to your remixing work such as Liza Flume and We Cut Corners, what is it you look for when starting to reinterpret the sound of these recordings?
For me, vocals are the most important part of the remix. When I’m asked to remix something I start by looking for vocal hooks, something really catchy. Poison, the Liza Flume track, was covered in them, so it was loads of fun to remix. Once I have those hooks I try to listen to the track as little as possible so that I end up with something different from the original.
The We Cut Corners remix was a really interesting variation of that, the lads sent just the vocal and I wasn’t given the song, because they wanted me to make something completely different. It worked too, I set up the vocals in a completely different way, I was amazed when I heard the original.
You said you worked on new material with an eye on the live performance. How important is this to your process?
It’s always written with live in mind, definitely. In studio I get up and move about the whole time, I put myself in the shoes of someone listening at a live show. I add a lot more fiddle to the songs in the live show because it’s more engaging, and the tracks are broken down into small loops, but structure wise the tracks are built to play live.
Going forward into 2014 what do you have planned?
The album is coming out on June 6th, and then I aim to play lots of festivals. I’m hoping to travel to other countries by the end of the year, it’s always been an aim to use music to travel. The more gigs the better!
Daithi plays Culture Vultures in Odessa Club next Thursday (15th May) with Sean Nolan (comedy) and Arthur Mathews (interview) tickets are priced at €10 and are available now via entertainment.ie.
Irish electro artist and producer Daithí has identified himself as one of the countries most stylistically diverse acts performing at the moment. Blending a powerful mix of synth-pop, electro and looping techniques into an sonically expansive melting pot.
Daithí spoke to theLastMixedTape.com ahead of his set at Tony Clayton-Lea’s Culture Vultures night in the Odessa Club on May 15th about his studio process and forthcoming début album.
You are currently working on your debut album. How will the sound of the record compare to your previous work?
Compared to my last E.P it’s worlds apart, but the recent singles I’ve released give a hint to what it’s going to be like. It has lots of great vocal features, big poppy dance songs, and a couple of energetic instrumentals. The main aim of the album is to get people moving, it’s all written with the live environment in mind.
Your recent single ‘Have To Go’ saw a real expansion in your sound both stylistically and in terms of sound. How does this track in particular hint at your upcoming album?
Thank you! I think it is, Have To Go has a real ‘hands in the air’ feeling, and I think Jesse Boykins III added a lot to the vocal, really brought it from a strong pop song to something a little cooler. It’s a lot of fun to play live!
You have in the past worked as a producer on other musicians projects. How does this compare to self production?
I think it’s a good bit different, I’ve always worked with a producer myself, so I get to see both sides of the coin and learn from that.
Self production is way more personal, it’s almost like using a different part of your brain. You are channeling your own creativeness and inspiration way more than when you are producing someone else’s work.
Working on other people’s music as a producer is a strange feeling, because even though you’re pretty involved in the whole creation process it never really feels like your work, you kind of make yourself a gateway for somebody else’s creativity, you’re trying to show somebody’s work in the best possible light. There is a real sense of accomplishment in doing that, and I can definitely see myself doing more in the future.
You have collaborated with a plethora of Irish artists in the past. Will there be a collaborative feel to the album as well?
Absolutely, There are only two tracks out of the ten that don’t have someone featuring! I really enjoy working with other people, especially vocalists, because they add so much to a song, and having different voices on the album really makes each of the songs unique.
When it comes to your remixing work such as Liza Flume and We Cut Corners, what is it you look for when starting to reinterpret the sound of these recordings?
For me, vocals are the most important part of the remix. When I’m asked to remix something I start by looking for vocal hooks, something really catchy. Poison, the Liza Flume track, was covered in them, so it was loads of fun to remix. Once I have those hooks I try to listen to the track as little as possible so that I end up with something different from the original.
The We Cut Corners remix was a really interesting variation of that, the lads sent just the vocal and I wasn’t given the song, because they wanted me to make something completely different. It worked too, I set up the vocals in a completely different way, I was amazed when I heard the original.
You said you worked on new material with an eye on the live performance. How important is this to your process?
It’s always written with live in mind, definitely. In studio I get up and move about the whole time, I put myself in the shoes of someone listening at a live show. I add a lot more fiddle to the songs in the live show because it’s more engaging, and the tracks are broken down into small loops, but structure wise the tracks are built to play live.
Going forward into 2014 what do you have planned?
The album is coming out on June 6th, and then I aim to play lots of festivals. I’m hoping to travel to other countries by the end of the year, it’s always been an aim to use music to travel. The more gigs the better!
Daithi plays Culture Vultures in Odessa Club next Thursday (15th May) with Sean Nolan (comedy) and Arthur Mathews (interview) tickets are priced at €10 and are available now via entertainment.ie.
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