“We basically approached an electronic album the way a Bowie record would have been recorded…” There is a tendency within modern electronica to pigeonhole and categorise, to package music into easily digestible formulae that fit neatly into industry marketing machines, churning out vapid, mechanical produce to consumers on the other end. In direct revolt comes Dutch artist Satori and his new album Dreamin’ Colours, out now on renowned imprint Crosstown Rebels.
An ethereal, swirling body of work, Dreamin’ Colours is rich in texture, colour and imagination. Satori stretches himself out through languorous, mystical explorations of both the digital and the analogue elements of music, the result a beautifully conspired collection of world music, steeped in electronic and Romani roots, and straddling a multitude of genres from blues and indie electronic to opera, folk and beyond.
Although raised in the Netherlands, where commercial electronic music is of course king, on Dreamin’ Colousr it is undeniably Satori’s Balkan heritage that layers his production with dreamy, ethereal, Eastern European influences. The album’s overriding voice lies in his exultant celebration of Eastern European music, weaving vibrant threads of its earthy, melodic, rhythmic sounds into his thick musical tapestry. Written during the pandemic and driven by the ache of separated love, the album is, Satori says, his most personal yet. DMCWORLD dives in for a WORLD EXCLUSIVE…
Hi Satori, thanks for joining us today! How are you, where in the world are you, and what are you up to?
Thanks for having me. I’m currently in Ibiza which is guess is my homebase for the summer. I have a summer residency at Chinois so I’ll be here most of the time. And I prefer to produce music at Sonic Vista Studio which is around the corner.
Congrats on the upcoming album. We were lucky enough to get a sneak preview and it’s a real work of beauty. Can you tell us what inspired it?
Thanks! I’m really happy with how it turned out, for me it’s my most personal album to date. It’s really created during the pandemic and the main theme would be about real connection in a world where that seemed to be lost for a while. So the lockdown, my heartache of not being able to be with my fiance and feeling restricted became my inspiration.
Is it true that you snuck into Ibiza to record it? Why was it so important for you to be here on the island to make the album?
Haha yes that’s true. When the lockdown started I was stuck at home same as everyone else but I really didn’t want to be there. So I managed to get into Ibiza and lock myself up in the studio there. The environment and nature was exactly what I needed to be productive and channel my outflow of music.
You recorded it at the legendary Sonic Vista Studio and we heard that you used an unusual practice to give it that ‘live’ edge? What did you do, and why was it so important to you that it didn’t sound so polished and electronic?
Yes I was already doubting about my work flow for a long time. It’s so easy to make music nowadays and it’s very easy to make lazy decisions. Because we have all these software, tools and plugins that does music process for us. But the trap is that we all sounds the same. Because we basically use the same filters.
So then I saw a documentary of the Bowie Song ‘Hero’ and how it was made and that opened a whole new world for me. Since then I became obsessed my mics and rooms.
And I realized that ‘back in the days’ music was recorded in REAL spaces and these spaces carries a authentic sound with them. So this means that all these records sound different from each other. So I decided to re-mic all the sounds of my album in real authentic spaces.
There are some really interesting vocal collaborations on the album. What do you look for when working with a vocalist and from the features on ‘Dreamin’ Colours’, which one is your favourite and why?
It’s impossible for me to choose a favourite as all have their own story and way it came to live. For instance Yellow Blue Bus ended up being duet with my fiancee after I asked here to sing the backing vocals for me. But after the recording i listened to it with engineer and we both decided it was way too beautiful for backing vocals and it needed to be changed into a duet.
You’ll be performing at both Coachella weekends later this year – what can fans expect from your show? Will you be playing solo or with your band?
This will be a solo show, I’m really looking forward to it as I haven’t been there for 5 years.
You call ‘The Band From Space’ your “musical brothers in arms”. How long have you been playing together and for you as an artist, do you prefer playing solo or as part of a collective?
They really are! I’ve been working with them for the last six years and I feel really comfortable with them on stage. It is completely different to playing solo. I really love both but it’s good for my creativity to alternate between the two projects to make sure I don’t get bored of lazy. I like to always challenge myself and take risks on stage.
What do you hope your fans will get when they listen to the album?
I hope it takes them on a journey from heartache to relief and love, and that those emotions resonate through the album.
