Let’s be honest: 99 times out of 100, it’s the songs that stay with us. 20 years ago House music was full of songs, but over time they’ve become less and less prevalent, to the point that you might go out raving without hearing a single fully-formed vocal at all. House music was born from collaboration, experimentation and from providing a hedonistic release from the monotony of the 9 to 5. House music without those sing-along anthems wouldn’t really be House music at all.
Step forward, Husky with his first album for half a decade, and a healthy dose of vocally-charged, glorious House music we could all use about now.
Great news, ‘Go Don’t Stop’ will be out very soon – October 2nd – including 11 tracks, from Deep to Soulful. With fully-fledged Disco bangers as well, ‘Go Don’t Stop’ is a flawless expression of an artist operating at the very highest level.
Now unveiling another glimpse of his imminent album with a real groovy gem named ‘Better Somehow’, accompanied by Elliot Chapman on vocals, the Aussie House luminary kindly answered our questions about this new release, his upcoming LP – and many more, to discover just below!
Hey Lawrence, thanks for your time and welcome on Sidekick! To start off, could you introduce yourself in a few words?
Hey guys! Thanks for your time and wanting to shine a light on this project.
Hello readers! I’m a house music artist based in Sydney, Australia. I have been DJ’ing in Sydney since 2005 and have been releasing music since 2006. I own and operate 2 record labels, 1 is my solo project, Bobbin Head Music and the other is a partnership with my long time friend Yogi, Random Soul Recordings. Yogi & I are also studio partners in production and we make up the duo, Random Soul.
I absolutely love experimenting with all styles of house music. This eclectic love of music will find me dabbling into hip hop, soul, funk and disco and right back through tech house and minimal. I am still as much in love with DJ’ing and producing as much as when I started and I can’t wait to get back out on the road and play some shows around the world.
We’ve just picked your new gem ‘Better Somehow’ from your upcoming album ‘Go Don’t Stop’, what a tune! What’s the story, the idea behind this record?
Thank you! Personally I love this record also. Elliot’s vocal performance was incredible here and his recording of his vocals is clearly done by someone who knows what he is doing. I had this instrumental track that I had been working on which has soulful but moody vibes to it. I had liked Elliot’s vocals on a few previous productions he had done with fellow house artists so I reached out and sent him what I had. He wrote back quickly and was feeling the song and quickly set to work. After a few ideas back and forth the result came very quickly. I was really impressed with his work flow and melodic ideas.. but felt the track was now not really reflecting that quality level, so wen’t back and decided to get some more additions to the track, Guitars being one of them + some additional synth work. The track bloomed to life and it’s grown to be one of the strongest on the album musically and in the writing in my opinion 🙂
Listen 'Better Somehow' (Feat. Elliot Chapman) :
Talking about the album, could you share an anecdote about it?
I find it funny that I have actually only met 3 out of the 10 collaborators on this album in person. To be able to work with people in such an intimate way without having that opportunity to really get to know someone is a strange thing. Perhaps the music might be better when you’re together? Or worse? Who knows! Some people also work better by themselves behind closed doors and away from others.
I also think it’s funny that I thought I would be able to smash this album out in 6 months while having a toddler. HA! How having children changes things. Inspiring in ways of course and that inspiration actually pushed me to keep at it, but I certainly had many moments of ‘what the hell am i thinking’. You see a lot of other artists consistently release music and you’re stuck in this body of work that is draining your time while you juggle 11 + projects with multiple artists.
I am glad I stuck to it because I think the result will make the music more memorable as a collective body of work than 10 or 11 singles releases.
Are there any upcoming artists that you would love to collaborate with, or artists that you would dream to work with?
The list is long for this! To me, collaboration makes much more interesting music so I am always finding new artists and imagining what fun we could have working on something 🙂 I would love to work with Roisin Murphy’s vocals, or Izo Fitzroy. Both these ladies have very interesting and powerful voices. Also Aloe Blacc, I love his vibes.
What can we expect for the end of the year, do you have some secret plans to share with us?
It’s been such a funny year, and not the good kind of funny. So many challenges have faced individuals and entire industries this year, and it looks like things are not really going to return to ‘normal’ for quite some time. I would normally have a few bookings for NYE around now, but it’s not looking like that’s going to be happening this year.
So for me, plans have become a lot more short term and streamlined. What I can do is work with whats in front of me and within my control. So for me, that involves my labels and my music!
I have remixes from 6 singles on this album, and I wanted to leave it at that. But with the quality of some of these songs which are not getting singles like ‘Better Somehow’ and ‘Fading’ – I think it would be an injustice to them not to see what another producer can do with them. So I will be releasing a deluxe edition of the album with some additional and new remixes by mid 2021, so look out for that 😉
Quick bonus-question, what makes a good party for Husky?
At the moment, I’ll take ANYTHING! haha.
But the parties that are the most memorable for me are day events that lead into night. I love watching people progress through the day and into the night. There’s something that happens when the sunsets after people have been feeling the vibe for a few hours. The lights go off and the energy lifts. It’s a special time and I love playing to people who are right in this hot zone. Good music, Good sound systems, Good friends, Good vibes!