Exclusive Interview with Rufus du Sol
Rufus du Sol's debut Gold selling album ATLAS is an incredible fusion of genres. The boys are heading out on a 15 stop North American Tour in October and are about to hit NYC. Here's what they had to say:
You're music touches on elements of downtempo, ambient electronic, and pop. What direction do you feel yourself being pulled in following this album? Are you waiting to see which styles fans react to most to before taking the next step?
Yeah, we don't really write with a specific genre in mind. We approach each song trying to create a feeling through the melody and different elements. We sit around and someone will kinda take control depending on who is feeling it; and they'll bang out a beat or a couple of chords or something and describe the feeling they are trying to create and we go from there. Last album we were naming each working track after a destination...So that probably explains why it sounds like a few different genres or destinations. This time around we've been listening to different stuff from the last time we were writing, but, it's very much 'us' that's coming through on the tracks we have so far. We still have a lot of work do do though.
Your music falls in the electronic spectrum but is far separate from “EDM." Where do you place yourself in the electronic music world in regards to your musical influences?
- We like everything. Classic house, trip hop, contemporary Australian electronic stuff. It's a bit hard to place yourself somewhere on a spectrum of electronic music because music doesn't necessarily work that way. But, in terms of influences that is hard as there are so man... But, maybe if we were playing a big festival we'd want to play on the same stage as acts like; Moderat, Chemical Brothers, Radiohead, John Talabot, Flight Facilities, Hermitude (our friends touring with us right now), Motez, SBTRKT, David August, Disclosure, Caribou, Warpaint, HNNY, or The Acid. That would be amazing.
You've been bouncing around the globe lately from LA to SF to NYC to London to your hometown Australia. What differences did you notice in the vibe and reception of your music in different cultures?
- It's amazing to be able to play in all these places. We kind of cast a really wide net after we put our album our and have played in so many cities. It's great because you get a vibe for what people think of your music in different places, some places are much harder than others.
I saw you out here at Berlin Festival, what did you think of playing this city?
- It was pretty awesome. The crowd there reacts in a unique way. They really feel the music. You know which songs really speak to them as you see their bodies react.
Can you talk a bit about the inspiration behind "Atlas?" Not just the title but deciding to create this specific sound as well.
- Well we started naming each working track after a different destination. So subconsciously each song was a bit of an escape to somewhere different. We'd sit down and start to write a song in order to create a certain feeling, and then we'd name the project something that related to that feeling; Desert Night was actually called Berlin, and Take Me was called Caribbean. When we were finished we had a kind of escapist collection of songs. They were escapist for us anyway, but, that is why we called it Atlas, as it felt like our exploration..
It seems like electronic music itself is moving toward a lot more complex and interesting melodies, it’s more musical. Do you feel yourself to be apart of that wave with artists like waveracer and flume? Who are a couple of Australian artists in that musical vein that people should check out that haven’t really blown up yet?
- I guess that's why people classify us as Indie Dance or Indie House, because there is that live instrumentation part that they might not have seen a lot. The Australian scene is so strong at the moment with those artists you mentioned and also people like Hermitude, Motez, Golden Features, Hayden James, Seekae, Flight Facilities (their debut album is coming really soon), Boot Action etc.. There is the more experimental sound that people are calling Australian Sound, and the housey stuff too like Motez, Cassian and Boot Action. It's a great time to be down there.
Interview by Jesse Wheaton
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