voices #32
◦ “voices” is the place where we ask, artists reply and you read.
here we got:
The Earl of Dean
answering some questions. We have already observed his dub / industrial / experimental work here.
[1. IDEA]
■ The A. O.: The track from “Silence About To Break” that we prefer is “Stardust Cluster”. Can you tell us how it came to light?
► The Earl of Dean: Interestingly this was the first track I actually released publicly albeit after getting some feedback from some fellow Edinburgh based artists Tayus and Last Post Society who gave me the confidence to make my music public and just roll with it. The track was me initially thinking id like to create a spacey ambient track and once I got the individual parts across my suite of synths and an inkling on how I’d piece the recording together I just went for it recording live .through my mixer into Ableton before mastering in Bandlab. I think I did 3 takes before I was happy with the track . Bear in mind I’d been playing about with my synths as a novice from September 2024 understanding the functionality and what I could extract sound wise from each of them. Painful at times but great fun!
[2. CREATION]
■ The A. O.: How do you usually approach composition? Do you start with a concept, a sound, a state of mind or what else? How do you generally proceed from the initial seed to the complete work?
► The Earl of Dean: That honestly depends, sometime I grab a sequence and take it from there, other times I’d come up with the song title and work around that, utilising various sounds which fitted the title. For my forthcoming second album I had a 2 min 47 sec space I could utilise for a vinyl release and bizarelly I was sat up at 2:47 am messing around on my set up. The result, a track entitled 2:47 AM Eternal which lasts 2 mins 47 seconds! A unashamed reference to the KLF for the title.
[3. FEEDBACK]
■ The A. O.: What do you hope listeners feel or experience when engaging with your music?
► The Earl of Dean: I hope people get lost in the moment , appreciate the sounds and ideas and stick with it. Nothing worse than skipping songs in my opinion. You just lose the meaning and movements of a piece. Sitting in the car with my young adult children can be painful as they skip from one track to another but that’s Spotify for you.
I know my music is niche and I’m not expecting to top the charts but I’d like people to immerse themselves , groove the repetition and warped movements.
[4. IDENTITY]
■ The A. O.: In a world saturated with digital music content, how do you try to keep your sound distinct and personally meaningful?
► The Earl of Dean: I’m first and foremost playing and making experimental sounds for myself. Even if I tried to write a simple poppy synth wave track it would end up distorted and messed up. It’s just how my head works. I guess that keeps it personal and possibly to messed up for most.
[5. INFLUENCES]
■ The A. O.: Mention 3 albums that you consider relevant to your musical path and why.
► The Earl of Dean: ○ Sabres of Paradise – Sabresonic
This is just one of the most amazing records released early ro mid 90’s . When everyone else was getting harder and faster the Sabres just went downtempo and dubbed it to the max.
○ The Normal – TVOD
Not a LP but the B side on the Warm Leatherette single which I first heard via a friends older brothers record collection when I was about 11 years old. Its just one of the best things Ive ever heard.
○ Augustus Pablo – Original Rockers
I’m a big dub fan and this is probably my go to.
I also make a special mention for the recently deceased DJ and Producer Keith McIvor RIP . My attendance at Pure in Edinburgh every Friday night in my early twenties can only be described as magical.
[6. REGARDS]
■ The A. O.: Leave us with a quote you love.
► The Earl of Dean: “So with the darkest days behind, our ship of hope will steer; and when in doubt, just keep in mind our motto, persevere”.