Mitch DodgeQ: Hi guys, welcome to Music Is 4 Lovers! Let’s jump straight in, you recently announced your debut EP Get So High, and released the title track. Can you tell us about the new single and what we can expect from the EP?
Hey! So yeh, Get So High was written with cult-legend producer Paul White (Danny Brown, Charli XCX etc) on a crisp, wintery day in lockdown. Paul made us feel super comfortable and let us loose in his synth-cave of a studio, within moments we had the Juno chord riff and Moog bassline rolling on a loop. In later sessions, we jammed out some more parts, beats and recorded vocal hooks until the song gradually morphed into an electronic opus (as Paul described it!). The EP is our first body of work which celebrates and explores our sound. We pulled countless all-nighters sculpting synths, tweaking beats and letting the melodies flow out of our mouths with a newfound freedom. People can expect a variety of moods from the EP, from darker, instrumental moments to sun soaked singalongs, people will get a taste for what we’re all about.
Q: You’ve had an amazing year so far – supporting Jungle on their London date, released Be There and Want Me Back from the EP, and performed your live debut. Obviously the live element is an important part of Decades, how does that inform your work in the studio?
Yeh we always keep live in mind when we’re writing. In the studio, we’ll try to envision playing the song out. We turn the lights off and blast the build up into the drop over and over until the goosebumps come, then we know it’s hitting right and it will go off live! We also keep our vocal hooks simple and our arrangements always have enough breathing space for the breakdowns and builds to work well at a club or festival.
Q: Having already established yourselves as solo artists, what made you want to come together as Decades, and is there a difference in how you approach this particular project than your individual work?
We’d become close friends from sessions collaborating on our solo projects and writing for other people, but in lockdown we worked together more than ever, and really just stumbled across this new direction. The approach is pretty different from either of our own stuff, it usually involves nerding out on analogue synths, experimenting, shooting down each others bad ideas and cheerleading the good ones! It’s more the kind of stuff we both listen to and go and see live, just our tastes combined really. We meet up, make a lot of bad puns, and somehow songs get done in the process.
Q: Collaborations bring unique dynamics to a project. Can you tell us about the guest remixes from Yesca and Storm Mollison on the new EP?
We were super excited to get both those guys involved and both remixes came out so fire! Yesca is a Slow Supermarket label mate, and after playing the same night together we had to make that one happen. Storm Mollison is a rare talent and an old friend of ours, so that was a no brainer to get her spin on it too. Both brought a new energy to the song, Yesca’s is really entrancing and Storm went straight up 4×4 lo-fi vibes making it perfect for the dancefloor. Storm will be closing our EP release party on November 30th at Pickle Factory which will be a great full circle moment.
Q: And lastly, what do you hope listeners take away from the new EP?
We want you to hear these songs and dive into the sound of Decades, close your eyes and see strobe lights, and have as much fun dancing to them as we did making them.
“Get So High” is out now!