Introducing... Dusk Chorus

Whilst I have been listening to and enjoying Electronic music for nearly 3 decades now, I find myself in slightly unfamiliar territory here.

Emerging artist (and brother to one of my closest friends) Jordan Holden - operating under the pseudonym Dusk Chorus - has just released 2 tracks on Soundcloud/YouTube from his forthcoming EP. I was one of the first and keenest listeners, and I not only marvel at his talent but now have the privileged task of being the first person to interview him about his life, influences and the DC project itself.

A cathartic experience for us both I daresay..

When did you realize you wanted to create music?

I kind of always did make music in a way. My earliest memory is of me out with my parents somewhere with an empty lunchbox and a couple of sticks I found on the ground. I’d just sit cross-legged and bang the sticks against the lunchbox and get really absorbed into it. I must’ve been maybe three years old. My parents – thank god they weren’t irritated – they basically sussed out that I was a drummer and I ended up getting a toy drum kit. From there it progressed to me playing the actual drums, to playing guitar to making music on a computer to now, basically.

You grew up away from the city, so live music must have been hard to come by. How did you sustain your interest?

I think recorded music was really always the main interest for me anyway. I didn’t like going out to gigs as such; I was always honestly a bit too introverted to want to do that sort of thing as a kid. I just liked staying in my room and listening to stuff. In a way it kind of explains how I gravitated towards production because I liked the way well-engineered, well-recorded music sounded. I almost respected that part of it as much as any individual instrumental performance on the record. And I guess I was just always obsessed with how certain sounds were achieved. It always felt mysterious enough to me to keep me hooked.

What was the first gig you ever went to?

Growing up my Dad and my Brother played in bands so it would’ve been either of them first. The first major one was the Manic Street Preachers at The Colston Hall in Bristol. Probably about 2010 or so. They were really great; I was surprised how many songs I knew by them that I didn’t realise were by them.

What were your earliest memories of Electronic music?

I was always fascinated with the production of electronic music. My first favourite album was actually Seal's first album (I’m not kidding). I was probably less than five years old. That album had a version of ‘Killer’, which was of course the track he originally did with Adamski. Again - because I was always fascinated by production - electronic music really caught my attention as much as anything. Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers were always a couple of artists that amazed me both before and during adolescence.

What do you think were the 3 most important things you took from doing your degree at Bath Spa University in Creative Music Technology?

1. If you come up with a ridiculous idea that would actually be kinda great if you pulled it off - but at the same time you feel as though you understand what the steps towards pulling it off are - then just pursue it because you’ll get obsessed enough to do it like the total nutcase you are.

2. The process is more important than the outcome. For example, you might get a really low grade for something that actually taught you a lot. So don’t get wrapped up in your achievements/failures, they don’t define you.

3. If you find your own work ungratifying; help other people with theirs. It’s fulfilling and can help you see yours in a different light.

Who do you feel has influenced you the most in the lead up to creating your first tracks as Dusk Chorus?

I could talk about a bunch of people/artists etc. First of all there’s my roommate who overheard me singing along to stuff in my room a couple years ago and suggested I should start recording myself. Which kinda kick-started a lot because I was thinking about doing it but wasn’t confident enough to really go for it.

Then there’s the university professor who told me that I should keep singing after he convinced me to play him a track I was working on that I got really ashamed of and couldn’t finish. He was the first person to hear a recording of me and said that I should just record myself every day and get used to my voice and not try to put too much on myself too early on. Which I ended up doing.

And then in terms of music; basically at this point in time I had pretty low confidence in myself with regard to making music in general, and there was a big part of me that almost wanted to give up. I wound up getting into Beach House at this point because I remembered hearing the song ‘Silver Soul’ and it kept coming back to me when I tried to think of an example of a really good vocal. I found out from a bunch of music sites that they were supposed to be one of the best indie bands of the last 10 years or so which intrigued me so I got into their stuff. It took a second to really ‘hit’ me as to why their music was so great but when it did I was honestly floored. I ended up listening to ‘Levitation’ on repeat about 30 times in one evening and had an epiphany that I shouldn’t give up making music because of stuff like this. I just felt like it was amazing but simultaneously I could take the track apart in my head and figure out how it was made. It just felt really magical and yet possible at the same time. They ended up becoming a really important band for me.

What emotions/experiences are you drawing from when you write?

I actually keep a journal that I try to write in every morning, just to unscramble my thoughts and get them out of my head so I don’t have to be bothered by them too much during the day. A lot of ideas articulate themselves during that process and begin to turn into lyrics over time.

Do you find writing and creating comes easy for you? Why/why not?

I actually spent the last year or so trying to make it easier for myself through brute force in a way. I spent a few months going through an intensive process of trying to write demos really quickly (e.g. in under 20 minutes) and then just moving onto the next one. I’d even do it when I had no ideas/inspiration (which is really frustrating, but you can still technically write stuff). As a result of doing it I feel like I’ve really developed my instincts when it comes to capturing a great idea when I actually have one. Now when I come up with an idea it doesn’t take longer than an hour to demo it. After that the hard work starts because it’s about re-doing it in the strongest way possible, which means there’s a lot of iteration etc. But the reason it works is because you have the structure of the song already there in the demo so you’re just trying to make the best version of something that is already written.

What tools do you use to create your music?

I have a MacBook Pro running Ableton Live. I generally try to use the least plugins possible. I have Amplitube so I can run my guitar/bass through Ableton. I really only use one microphone which is a standard Shure SM58. I also have an actual Upright Piano which I record all the time, often with just the one mic. I sometimes layer recordings of the left and right hand to get it in stereo, which is a pretty odd technique. I don’t know if I invented that.

Do you want your music to bring people together or do you feel it’s more of a solo listening experience as a Dusk Chorus-ite? (Yeah…it may catch on)

Usually the kind of music I like doesn’t necessarily ‘bring people together’ honestly. My favourite music – and then in turn, the kind of music I try to create – is usually pretty personal to listen to. The idea of a bunch of people being really excited to come together and party to ‘Yellow House’ by Grizzly Bear seems a bit unusual (even though that’s exactly the kind of party I’d want to be at). I don’t know if I’m really achieving that kind of thing yet, but it’s what I’m looking for ultimately. That said a lot of my favourite artists walk the line between the two really well. Ultimately it falls on the personal side for me though.

What were the last 3 Electronic albums you listened to and why?

Clark - Death Peak

Clark’s production is so good it’s intimidating. Usually his tracks are really densely layered and they tend to flow between different ideas and melodies pretty seamlessly but yet somehow it’s still really focused, almost like his tracks are building and collapsing simultaneously. There’s always a really wide polarity between all the really blissed out ambient parts in his tracks and the really hard-hitting peak rhythmic moments yet they go hand in hand.

Caribou – Andorra

I really look up to Caribou in a number of ways. He just seems to embody a lot of the ideas that I wanted to pursue in my own music. The central one being the idea of making stuff that sounds a lot bigger and denser than the room it was probably made in, or the laptop it was probably made on. This album is like his most ‘Psych Rock’ release. ‘Sandy’ is a really good example of it. You can just sort of hear the excitement of an electronic producer figuring out he could make this kind of music in that song. He was really important to me because he proved this sort of thing was even possible to begin with.

Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma

This is probably my favourite electronic album ever. I heard ‘Zodiac Shit’ on a random YouTube video once and was so freaked out and excited by how wonky it sounded. Just the off-kilter drums and how wildly over-compressed it was. He really opened my mind up on how to approach production; how to break rules etc. ‘Recoiled’ is probably my favourite track on that one, it’s really exhilarating. The most positively face-melting album I’ve ever heard!

If you could only recommend one artist for people to hear in their lives, who would it be and why?

I would probably say Flying Lotus just because I got really excited about him in that previous answer! But he’s a really perspective-changing artist to listen to. He makes you appreciate everything that sounds out of tune or out of time in music. He’s really talented at channelling an excitement for those kinds of things.

Who would you most like to perform alongside?

Damo Suzuki (formerly the vocalist of Can). There’s a great video of him jamming with Pond (Psych band from Perth, Kevin Parker from Tame Impala is actually playing the drums in the video). Apparently he travels around the world jamming with bands all the time. I love how he makes them sound like Can, they’re normally totally different.

Your ideal festival. There are 6 acts on the bill and you’re one of them…..who are the other five?

We/I would play before anyone turns up…

• Khruangbin to bring the funk.

• James Blake because I’ve seen him once already but it was really inspiring and I really want to see him again.

• Open Mike Eagle because he’s probably the most entertaining rapper live.

• Slowdive and Beach House because they’re both on the bucket list for me.

What is the music world going to look like in 5 years from now?

I hope there are going to be more independent artists. Or at least artists who remain independent long enough to gain enough clout/following for their music so that they end up having a lot more control over what they do if any labels end up signing them (which is what Brockhampton proved you can do last year). I think labels still very much serve a purpose with regards to physical distribution of music, which – given that vinyl is surging in response to streaming – will matter a fair bit to artists who want to make music for people who still listen to albums in full for example.

I also really hope there will be some kind of reaction to the whole “If you like this, you’ll also like this” thing. I very much doubt that will happen in the mainstream because it’s obviously very profitable. But I hope people/communities online find a way to make new music discovery actually be about ‘discovery’ and not about listening to stuff that is comfortably familiar. I’ve never had a single musical epiphany that ever comes from listening to something similar to what I already listen to.

What’s next for you?

I’m finishing the EP at the moment, which is basically halfway there. Hoping to get it done by the end of September. Honestly I really want to get it out of the way because I already have an intense desire to do something better. I feel like I developed a lot of competence with what I’m making at the moment but I also think my music has yet to really find it’s own ‘world’ to exist in. Aside from that, I’m moving away from home soon. Basically hoping to find people who are likeminded about music to work with. Maybe start performing live etc. Essentially just trying to keep better contact with the rest of human civilisation!

Well, I for one am excited to see what happens next....

Badger x

'Unwind' and 'Falling Down The Stairs' by Dusk Chorus are now available to stream on Soundcloud and YouTube by clicking on the links.

Insta - https://www.instagram.com/duskchorus/

Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/duskchorus

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