House and techno giant Duksy finds the balance

by Kate Wilson on July 7th, 2017 at 4:44 PM

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British duo Dusky has fast become a favourite in the Vancouver electronic music scene. Playing at various locations in and around the city five times in the last three years, the European pair has racked up more shows in the lower mainland than some of the most prolific North American touring artists. How have they managed to build a fanbase so far from their native London? It’s all about the music, says Alfie Granger-Howell.

“My production partner Nick [Harriman] and I have different upbringings in terms of musical education,” the artist tells the Straight on the line from the pair’s North London studio. “I was a piano student, and went on to study film and TV composition. Nick comes from a production background. When we first started, we would each contribute our own expertise to our writing. These days, we’ve taught each other our different specialities. I like to think that having that musical training makes us slightly different from the norm.”

Growing up on classic house and techno records, but also regularly slamming drum ‘n’ bass, garage, classical, jazz, soul, and pop music on the stereo, Granger-Howell credits the pair’s unique take on electronic music as a direct result of their eclectic interests. Drawing on harmonic elements, rhythmic patterns, and—as the artist neatly puts it—different timbres from each genre, even the duo’s most stripped-down techno gives an oblique nod to the musical greats.

“That range is what comes naturally to us,” Granger-Howell says. “Part of it is that we get bored in the studio working on one particular style, so we like to switch it up a bit. We also include that mentality when we’re playing live. We’ve always had a range in our sound which includes some very deep stuff, but we’re finding that as we perform at bigger venues—especially festivals—we don’t get a chance to play our more underground tracks. Recently we’ve been making sure we keep a balance of festival and club shows, and doing a lot of extended sets where we can start very deep and then move across a range of different styles, to showcase all the music that we make.”

The pair’s records have followed a similar trajectory. Recently completing their second full-length album, Outer, in 2016—an LP that saw the duo return to more conventional songwriting structures, scoring features from grime giant Wiley and ‘80s superstar Gary Numan—Granger-Howell and Harriman have shifted gears with their new Cold Heart EP. Trading tracks designed for headphone listening for four classic club tunes, the new record sees Dusky return to its roots.

“The EP draws on classic house—deep house especially,” Granger-Howell says. “It’s got all the elements, like the chopped-up vocals and the big pads. We’re keeping it quite simple, and making sure it’s all very groove-based. The tracks are all pretty diverse. ‘Bowed’ has a lot of energy, and it’s much more of a techno track. ‘Balfour Betty’ is much deeper, almost progressive house. ‘Psychic Life Coach’ is again classic house, but with garage sounds in there as well. This EP is definitely a move towards a more typical sound of ours. We felt that the timing was right to bring those elements back after Outer.”