We first heard from London duo Dusky via their 2011 LP,Stick By This. The debut effort from producer/DJs Nick Harriman and Alfie Granger-Howell took listeners on a broadly diverse trip through electronic music, touching on house, techno, post-dubstep and clubby soul.
Over the past four years they’ve gained increasing prominence as globetrotting DJs, while also rolling out a steady stream of new releases. However, despite frequent singles, EPs and remixes, Stick By This remains Dusky’s only LP to date.
“We haven’t lost interest in the album format. We’ve just been focusing on writing music for the clubs,” says Granger-Howell. “We’re currently working on an album, so hopefully we’ll be able to redress that balance between singles, EPs and albums soon.”
Dusky’s most recent release, the four-track Ordinary World EP, is a perceptibly dancefloor-oriented affair. This isn’t a constricting factor, though, as each track tackles a different variant of electronic dance music. The duo designed Ordinary World to reflect the eclectic nature of its DJ sets, though really it’s just a taste.
“Obviously it’s difficult to sum up your sound in four tracks,” says Harriman. “If anything, I’d say it was lacking the more techy or really deep side to our DJ sets. But there are many producers out there writing great techy/deep music and we can play their records. The ultimate aim of a club release is to write dancefloor music that nobody else is writing so it can fill gaps in your DJ sets that aren’t covered by other producers.”
With such a considerable amount of time spent DJing, Dusky are voracious music-seekers. The continual search for tunes to include in their DJ sets inevitably rubs off on their creative output. However, they’re careful not to let their listening preferences cloud their artistic vision.
“It’s easy to get caught up writing quite nostalgic-sounding music, especially with regards to house and techno,” says Harriman. “There’s still so much life in the older styles that has been left untapped or can provide a basis for new and more current iterations that still sound fresh. The biggest challenge is to maintain objectivity regarding your creative decisions when writing in the studio, and being a DJ can have both a negative and positive effect on that impartiality.”
Dusky’s DJ sets tend to be anything but nostalgic, and a significant amount of time is devoted to spinning their own music. By virtue of this, when considering what externally produced tracks to include, it’s crucial they appropriately complement the Dusky originals.
“It’s important that any tracks by other artists we play fit into that sound world,” says Granger-Howell. “How they work alongside each other is vital to maintaining a cohesive musical identity. People associate you with that identity, they enjoy it, and that’s why they keep coming out to see you in the clubs or at the festivals.”
Traversing the world’s club and festival circuits isn’t the only thing keeping Dusky busy. In mid-2014, they launched the 17 Steps imprint. For the four years prior, they’d released music through a whole string of labels, including such big names as Dogmatik, School, Aus Music and Anjunadeep. Despite this, they felt the need to take matters into their own hands. “It’s not [due to] a sense of instability, more a sense of regulation,” says Harriman. “Both artistically and from a planning perspective.”
Along with Dusky, the label catalogue includes releases by fellow Londoners Christian Piers and Velvit. At this stage, Dusky’s relationship with the acts on the 17 Steps roster is fairly casual. “We’re just signing artists on a non-exclusive basis who are delivering EPs and singles,” says Granger-Howell. “That could change in future, but it’s early days for us. We want to develop the label slowly and organically.”
A great feature of all the existing 17 Steps releases is an easily identifiable artwork continuity. The cover of each release is made up of the label’s geometrically distinct logo, with just the colour changed.
“We’ll deviate at some point, I guess when it becomes boring or maybe with an album that requires a more specific identity,” says Harriman. “It’s just about keeping things interesting for us and the consumer of the music whilst maintaining a strong visual identity.”
The artwork tactic is part of Dusky’s broader plan to establish 17 Steps as a recognisable brand. However, while branding is significant, putting out good music is more important. “That’s the real test, and what helps to build the brand in the long term,” says Granger-Howell. “We look up to the successful indie labels such as Warp, R&S, Factory Records, Rough Trade, Domino, Trojan.”
Having visited Australia twice during 2014, Dusky will return for next month’s Listen Out festival tour. While Dusky spend a lot of time DJing in clubs, they’re no strangers to the festival environment.
“It’s good to have variety in the shows that you play,” says Harriman. “It keeps things interesting for us and helps us to develop as DJs and producers. If you play to a load of clubbing geeks at Pbar [Berghain] or Fabric every week you could lose sight of some of the music or DJing techniques that create special moments at festivals, and vice versa.”
Dusky’sOrdinary World is out now through 17 Steps. They play Listen Out 2015, along withChildish Gambino, Joey Bada$$, Alison Wonderland, Odesza and more, at Centennial Park on Saturday October 3.
