The dust has barely settled from his latest UKF upload – Words – and his monstrous podcast, we caught up with Manchester-based Feint to find out more on why we had to wait so long for Words to drop, what’s coming up next and what makes him tick…
It’s been a while….
Yeah I had the collaboration with Koven on the Liquicity compilation but in terms of a full EP it has been a while for sure. I’m constantly learning. I’ve been producing for a number of years but I’m still always trying to get better and improve.
The learning never stops. Even when you’ve been releasing music for five years like you have…
Yeah but I’d say the first few years were mucking around – I started to take it really seriously about two years ago. That’s when I noticed how important it was to pay attention to the details. At first it’s all about having fun, making cool sounding tracks but then you realise how important the finer details are and how you have to know your tools inside out.
Also songcraft… You use a lot of vocals
Yeah I’ve been really focusing on the melodic vocal style and trying to fuse it with my other main inspiration; cinematic scores.
Give me some all time favourite soundtracks and scores
Oh there are too many! Just off the top of my head Interstellar’s soundtrack is unbelievable. Hans Zimmer is such a talented musician, he’s incredible.
Tell me a film where the score is better than the plot…
How about this… My favourite score is from a film I’ve never even seen.
What?
Yeah, it’s an old film called Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. It was scored by a Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. It’s unbelievable. I love the score so much I can’t even think about watching the movie in case it ruins the score for me.
If Words was to be used on a film what would it be?
I haven’t thought about that! I wouldn’t even want to consider it because my music isn’t ready for that level of comparison. All I want to do is explore that gap between listening music and club music. A lot of D&B sounds huge on systems and is incredible in that setting but doesn’t lend itself quite as well for listening outside of the club. At least for me anyway. So that’s the purpose of Words – something that hopefully people will love on a big system and in other experiences.
It’s such a subjective thing. One man’s banger is another man’s easy listening. So who does tread that line for you?
It’s such a fine line! It’s no new thing and a lot of people smash that line from guys like Camo & Krooked who’ve been on this type of tip for years and new guys like Mohican Sun who’s just blown me away lately with that new EP. That’s just off the top of my head. I listen to so much music – D&B and non D&B – it all depends on my mood like everyone else.
How has Manchester influenced you? So much wicked D&B going on in the city!
Well I love Dub Phizix tunes, who doesn’t? But it’s not an influence on my productions if you know what I mean. I love this city and I go out in quite a lot but I don’t think I’ve pulled much influence from it. I’ve not thought of it before – is it weird not to be influenced by the city in which I live? I grew up in Blackburn but not even that had an influence on my music. My tastes are more global than that. I guess it began with Pendulum and then Liquicity.
You’ve worked with Fox Stevenson so I guess his old Stan SB tracks on Liquicity were an influence?
Yeah definitely. To be honest all tracks Liquicity ever uploaded back in those days were huge. The old Camo & Krooked and Netsky tunes were real stand out tracks from that era. And from those guys me and my mates started smashing out UKF as well.
Where were you at back then? Did you have aspirations of any kind?
Not really. I was never one of those kids who was like ‘I’m going to be this when I grow up!’ Even when I was studying computer science for my degree I didn’t know what I was going to do after. When I left uni I thought production would be viable option for a career and dived straight in with no backup plan whatsoever. I’m really lucky.
What can we expect in the future?
I’m not able to say a huge amount but there’s a lot more coming and a few surprises. All still D&B but maybe not all of it melodic. I’m loving deeper and heavier stuff so expect the unexpected… I’ve gained so much new knowledge this year and I want to apply it in other directions. I mentioned Mohican Sun earlier and I’ve been really inspired by that who movement triggered by Dawn Wall… Who knows how those influences will come out in my new productions?
Cool. Final one… Do you have any weird studio rituals?
It’s not weird but I always have a cup of tea on me at all times – to the point I have been known to take a thermos into the studio and pour little cups so it’s always a hot brew, too. I also burn a lot of incense. It’s properly nostalgic for me, it’s a homely smell because my mum burns it all the time at home. Sandlewood in case you’re wondering.
Follow Feint: Facebook / Soundcloud
