Following their beautiful run of new singles last year – ‘Hurt’, ‘Sahara’ and ‘Like This’ – ‘Synesthesia’ is Task Horizon’s latest epic slab of highly emotional and technical drum & bass. This time linking up with renowned and decorated Russian songwriter and vocalist Julia Marks, an evocative singer who has previously worked with fellow Evolution Chamber founders Magnetude, ‘Synesthesia’ is a dramatic explosion of elements. The symphonic intro, Julia’s yearning, soaring vocal and those 23rd-century bass textures all compound and galvanise to re-route our ears and minds to many other systems in our bodies.
Following the release of ‘Synesthesia’, we caught up with Task Horizon for an immersive chat about artistry, the industry, and of course, their latest release…
What inspired you to become a Drum & Bass artist, and how did you get your start in the industry?
Hey guys, thanks so much for wanting to chat with us. I [Aaron] would say that it was since being a teenager in the nineties and hearing the futuristic, sonic landscapes of this new emerging music which were irresistible. Tim and Flo came on board many years later. We had our first releases in the early 2000s on UK labels like DSCI4, Habit and Sudden Def. And seeing how technology has massively progressed in the past 20 or so years that we’ve been releasing music for, Drum & Bass is, without a doubt, still our favourite way of expressing ourselves within electronic music.
How has your music evolved, and what do you consider to be your signature sound?
As we evolve as human beings, so does our music. Also, since DnB was and always will be a technologically forward-thinking genre, we believe it will evolve parallel to the advancements within electronic music production. And since we are huge nerds, we’re not immune to this. It’s very hard for us to pinpoint our signature sound. We always hear that we have one, but we always lack the objectivity and distance to really put it in words.
Can you tell us about your new release on Evolution Chamber, “Synthesesia,” and the creative process behind it?
We sent Julia Marks an early version of the tune and asked her to write some vocals for it a couple of years ago. When we heard the vocal demo she sent, we knew we had to change the whole concept of the track because it wasn’t doing her amazing vocals justice. And as we all know, vocals are the queen and every element bows to the queen. We ended up literally scrapping the whole tune and built a new Track around her Vocals. We love how James Bond-esque the vibe turned out.
What was it like collaborating with Julia Marks on this release, and how did you two approach the project?
With the track taking so long to write, as previously mentioned, Julia was extremely patient and understanding and trusted us and the process when we were explaining to her what we would like to do. She Literally had to wait years for a finished tune. When we sent her the final, she also commended us and said that she had never heard her vocals embedded like this in a tune and was very happy. So yeah, big up, Julia Marks!
How do you stay motivated and inspired when producing new music, and do you have any rituals or routines that help you get into the creative zone?
Motivation and inspiration come and go. For us, it’s about capturing moods and moments when they arise, but you also can’t force inspiration either. In those cases, it makes sense to do everything else, like clean up your sample bank, prepare stems or work on more technical things like mixdowns. Also, if you spend every free minute in the studio, you will burn out. You have to experience things to be inspired, so go out to see places and meet people, Play sports or go to the Gym. Play some video games or some DnD. Just don’t force it; it never works; we tried too many times and left the studio feeling deflated, which can also have a domino effect on getting back your inspiration too.
What rising DnB talents should we be watching out for?
That is a very good question. We would highly recommend Ekwols. We signed Kenny to Evolution Chamber last year, and we are all madly in love with his music and his personality so much. Much love Kenny <3 Also, a very talented guy who we have been talking to a lot is SLWDWN from the Czech Republic. His mixdowns and sound design are absolutely flawless.
What do you think separates Evolution Chamber from other Drum & Bass labels, and how do you see it developing?
It’s a label run by artists for the artists. Each artist has the final say on everything from Artwork designers to uploads and premiers. A lot of labels tend to focus on label branding, whereas, for us, we focus on what the artists want for their own branding. In our eyes, labels would not exist without music first, and the music comes from the artist, so the artist comes first. Evolution Chamber is not just a label; we want it to be a safe space for artists to have complete freedom and not limit themselves to writing music that fits a particular sound. We have a group Telegram to discuss everything, both professional and personal, and we all look out and help each other there, but with mixdowns and sharing knowledge, we do that through our label Discord server. We created a very cool voting system which we implement with all decisions regarding the label – from business decisions to demos we receive that are submitted for release consideration. And with top producers like Magnetude and Joe Ford, the quality control can be brutal at times, but we really want EC to be a label that doesn’t follow a distinctive sound… We want it to be as forward-thinking as possible.
How did the pandemic affect your music career, and did you find any silver linings or unexpected opportunities during this time?
I would say that everyone’s careers were affected. I think the stress of seeing what was happening VS the uncertainty as to when we will be back out on the road and playing shows again was a big factor. But on the other hand, we were all working together with the label team, trying to get music finished and to keep motivated in such a demotivating situation. We built a new studio and invested quite a lot of money into acoustic measurements and treatment. We didn’t expect in our wildest dreams to see and hear such an improvement to our mixes!
What advice would you give aspiring Drum & Bass artists starting in the industry?
It’s insane how much and how fast you can learn nowadays, especially through established artists’ patreons such as Noisia and Teddy Killerz. We would definitely recommend anyone subscribe to a couple of them.
What’s next for Task Horizon, and what can fans expect from your upcoming releases and performances?
Oh my! We wish we could spoil this huge project we’ve been working on curating over the last couple of years, but it’s a bit too early. I guess we can say that there might be a couple of remixes coming from some of our fav artists.
We’re literally in the final stages of the project, and we can’t wait to reveal it.
On top of that, we are also trying to wrap up an EP for Eatbrain and also several collaborations too!
We will also be announcing a massive thing happening towards the end of the year. It’s great to see the hard work we have all put into the label starting to pay off.
Task Horizon & Julia Marks’ ‘Synesthesia’ is out now on Evolution Chamber: https://lnk.to/EVOC023
