Tell us about your new Fairlight EP.
Fairlight EP the first EP I am releasing as Witte Beer. The EP is tied together with a kind of a sonic motif that is both nostalgic while also embracing sounds of the future. A lot of the nostalgic feelings come from the CMI Fairlight Sampler – made in the late seventies and popularized in the eighties. Even if you have not heard of this instrument before, you have definitely heard it. If you do enough research and become familiar with sounds from era’s you will be able to evoke feelings and memories with simple sound selections. The title track juxtaposes these elements between the verses (smattered with vintage samples) and the chorus (which has a more distorted modern digital tone).
Is there a lyric you would like to highlight?
In the verses of Fairlight I wanted to highlight moments during the summer before I left my hometown to study music production. The head of the second verse goes: A sound system and a loaded-up flash drive, clouds cover party goes on the poolside. This was a rooftop pool party I was DJing at a few weeks before I left home. I showed up with a USB stick, headphones and not much else. It was a pretty ominous occasion, all these hot people standing around too cold to go in the pool. To me it symbolized the end of my trash-DJ-party-boy phase.
How did Witte Beer as a project first come together?
Witte Beer is the result of me making sense of both past and present in my life. I spent years hanging around people playing house and electro and trying to produce that style of music as well. When I moved to Toronto, I ended up hanging around with more singer songwriters and people playing in bands. I am now much more interested in people writing lyrical music and less interested in trying to DJ. So, Witte Beer is a chance for me to embrace what I learned while being so infatuated with producing electronic sounds and mixing that with my inner budding songwriter.
Describe your sound in three words.
metallic bubblegum overdrive
What inspired Fair light?
The CMI Fair light synth of course!
Who did you work with on the EP?
Plastique Famille had the most influence on it, just getting the visuals and aesthetic right. Tom Nixon for the mastering, and shouted out to my voice coach Hannah, and Super Sonics Postproduction because I tracked my vocals there (Engineered by myself, I freelance there).
What has been the biggest change in your life over the past year?
My best friend left the country because his visa ran out. It was devastating for my social life as he organized every function I would show up to, which consisted of drinking beer in the park. However, the reward of drinking much less beer in the park is that my musical productivity went up.
Where would you perform tomorrow if you could go anywhere in the world?
Honestly, I just want to do a little DIY show in Toronto. Witte Beer has been solely a studio project up to this point. It would be nice to have the first set be something intimate with my friends around.
What is next for you?
More music! Putting out music is weird, like you have to wait months after finishing it before you can share it. I am already mixing the next songs that I am going to be putting out. I am getting two singles ready for an October release. They are going to be more synth-goth-industrial influenced and a little kitschy.
And finally, where can readers follow you?
Instagram @wittebeer__ that and Bandcamp, Spotify, apple music, and SoundCloud
