DMCWORLD checks in with Kyle Stern aka Attom, the US producer currently blowing up since his debut single Glow…
Hey, where are you right now? What have you recently been up to?
I am currently in cold and rainy Duluth, Minnesota messing around in my “studio.” I can say that non sarcastically since I finally bought monitors and room treatment. I opened for The Him in Chicago on September 23rd. Had a really great time doing that and meeting them.
Tell us about your new single Afterglow? What inspired the track?
I had an idea of the overall feel I wanted to achieve with it but most of the inspiration came from the back and forth of getting vocals and sharing ideas with Ciele. Working with new people is inspiring in itself.
What was it like working with Ciele? How did the collaboration come about?
Working with Ciele was really awesome. She’s super talented and making the track was very natural which I think is important. We were introduced on Facebook by a mutual friend who thought we should try to make a song together. From there we just exchanged a few emails and actually ended up building off of one of the first things I sent, which made things simple.
How was the production process? Did you have any obstacles come up along the way or any cases of writer’s block?
For the production, I wanted to try and balance a softer organic feel (acoustic guitar, claps, etc) with dirtier elements (big ish kick, harsh saw bass, etc) without having certain sections being a massive contrast to others. I also wanted to pull a few elements from my song “Her”, which ended up being the acoustic guitar and some soft sounding synths. And to my surprise, the track actually came together without any big writers block issues. The only real roadblock I had with it was with the chorus breakdown. Ciele and I both thought some vocal chops would work well there, and I spent a longggggg time trying to make some work but couldn’t do it for the life of me. Fortunately, Ciele ended up recording a couple minutes of adlibbed vocal riffs and such and some of them ended up working really well in that part, which negated the need for vocal chops.
How did your connection with Ultra come about? How does it feel to be releasing on such a globally renowned label?
It happened because of my song “Her”. Ultra emailed me saying they liked the track and asked about other music I was working on so I sent some stuff and fortunately they liked what I was doing. From there we worked out a deal. And it’s insane to be putting out music through a label that size. Never really thought I’d get the attention of someone like Ultra so I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to release through them.
What is next for Attom? Are you working on any new tracks?
I’m working on a few new tracks. Hoping to put out some remixes as well. And I think with the position I’m in now, the best thing for me is to try and stay consistent with quality releases. I definitely want to play more shows, especially after how fun it was playing in Chicago, but I’d like to put out some more music before trying to really dive into that world.
Attom ft. Ciele – Afterglow (Ultra Music / MFN Records) is out now
