Contributing Writer
Amy Dabbs has already had a very prolific 2023, with releases on Time Is Now, Shall Not Fade and Aus Music. Following the release of her latest EP last month, ‘Only Breaks Can Love Your Heart’ on Heist Recordings, we sat down with Amy to discuss musical roots, working with Heist and more.
Hi Amy and welcome to Music is 4 Lovers! Where are you joining us from today and how is your year going so far?
Thanks for having me! I’m joining from Berlin, which has been my hometown since 2018, and this year has felt like one of the most exciting ones yet! I’ve been really blown away with the reception my releases have received, and have been touring a lot more in the last 6 months, which has been awesome.
We heard that your musical roots run deep in your family. What can you tell us about your background and what has inspired your sound today?
There’s always been lots of music around me, even from a very young age. My dad was a Northern Soul DJ so I ended up listening to loads of Motown and old soul tracks growing up. He would always talk about what he loved about specific parts of a song when it was playing, and it made me pay attention to elements of the track at a deeper level than I would have done naturally, I think. I feel like some of the soulfulness in my own music was born out of this; one of my first releases, ‘Girl Like Me’, actually included some early Motown samples.
When I first got into house music, I was listening to people like Mark Farina, Derrick Carter and Kerri Chandler. The pacey, bounciness in the jacking house side of things, and the layers of pads, strings and highs in the more classic house side, have definitely influenced my four-four output. Actually, the more uptempo tracks I make incorporate some of the same ‘softer’ elements that I use in my house music, such as the piano chords and vocals in ‘Only Breaks Can Love Your Heart’. I also really like using pitchy vocals in both my house tracks and my jungle stuff, which is most likely a product of growing up with UK rave music and my longstanding love of UKG (which will probably never end haha).
Through all the phases of my music tastes, I’ve never stopped digging to discover new tunes and artists that I like, which was a thing even before I got my first set of decks (battered second-hand turntables and a mixer with about three dials) on my 18th birthday.
Congrats on your latest release ‘Only Breaks Can Love Your Heart’ on Heist Recordings. What can you tell us about the record?
This EP is true reflection of my sound across genre; I’m always true to myself in the music that I write, but this is the first time I’ve released an EP that’s as diverse as this genre-wise. It feels a bit like the prelude to an album, which is something I will be starting to work on next year, because it covers a variety of tempos and styles that I make and play.
The title track is a tune that I feel very connected to – unlike most of my productions which almost always take me a (very) long time to write (7000 versions of), the writing process for this one was very light and felt almost freeing. I never doubted the decisions I was making as the track came together, whereas some of the others made me work a lot harder! I’m really proud of this EP after all the late nights and ‘where the hell is this track going’ moments that we went through together!
This is your first release on Heist, how did you end up working with the label and what makes it a good home for your sound?
I’ve been a huge fan of Heist for as long as I can remember. Maarten & Lars approached me about an EP, and we had a call and were chatting about the Heist sound, which I feel has been evolving recently in a really nice way. I remember Lars saying ‘the reason that we are getting you on board is because we like your sound, just do you’ which felt really nice, because there is always the danger when you’ve been following a label for so long of trying to write something that fits with the label more than writing something that organically develops.
I was really touched that I was asked for some of my more uptempo stuff as well, and when ‘Only Breaks Can Love Your Heart’ was signed I was like ‘whoah’. I felt very humbled as it was the first time Heist had signed any jungle-type, breaks tracks before. Dam Swindle came through with a gorgeous 140 remix of the track Everything Alright too, which features some unreal vocals from Aika Mal.
So, all in all, being trusted to do my own thing on a label I had so much respect for made it feel like the perfect home for these tunes.
As well as being a producer you’re a prolific DJ, if your summer schedule is anything to go by! How much does your DJing experience inform the creative process when you’re producing?
One of the things I do quite often when I am producing, and I’m working on some of the concepts in a new tune, is crank the volume and stand at the back of the studio facing away from the speakers and equipment (so I’m just listening and not meddling with things for a minute). I try to imagine how it would sound if I heard it in a club I had recently played in, and what I would want from the track, such as a longer or shorter breakdown or a heavier bassline or kick etc… I can then sometimes work out what a song needs or doesn’t need by imagining either playing it in one of my DJ sets or dancing to it in that club. It seems to work quite well for decision-making most of the time.
I also feel like sometimes I come across tracks when I am digging for my sets either through an online platform or my own record collection – the tracks can be brand new or super old – and there will be some sounds or ideas that give me inspiration for things to try within my ‘works in progress’ tracks.
The final thing is knowing that if you don’t get a buzz from your own track like you do from the tunes you buy and play in DJ sets, then your track needs to evolve or die – I have thrown more tunes in the trash than I like to remember but knowing when to walk away is an important part of the production process too (and one of the hardest).
What do you think draws you towards making the specific type of music you make?
I really like tracks that have a lot of energy because I also have a lot of energy haha. So no matter whether I am making house or jungle I pack a lot into it sound-wise. I also enjoy writing tracks that have a nice moment or change in them at some point, whether that’s a drop to half-tempo such as in my track from last year ‘Don’t Go’ or a big pad switch up like in ‘Eleven Eleven Twenty Two’ on my new Heist EP.
I really like emotion in songs too, from tear-jerking strings to big vocal refrains, so a lot of my stuff is quite musical in that regard. I have basically zero music theory but I’m obsessed with layering and harmonising melodies, especially when my Juno 106 is involved, so I just do it by ear until I get it rights (this takes ages but I am assuming less time than going back to school haha). I want music to move me when I hear it, and that 1984 synth manages to tug on my heartstrings every time I turn it on.
What up-and-coming artists are on your radar right now?
Where do I begin! Here are a few, but there are so many people coming through it’s hard to even make a shortlist: Here goes.. Jay Carder, rRoxymore, Acid Finky, Dwarde, Danielle Arielli, Mars Kasei, Otik, Hyas, LMajor, Shiro Schwarz. Loving all their outputs, and sets where I’ve heard them too.
It’s been a pleasure having you with us today, Amy! Finally, what else can we expect from you in the near future?
Lots of things that begin with ‘future’ apparently! Future Classic & Future Retro for starters, plus Volume 2 of the ‘Slightly Involved’ series, which is a collaboration project between myself and Coco Bryce – that one will be coming out on my own label Dabbs Traxx early next year. I’m also taking part in the Heist remix series and very excited to be remixing an artist I have been a big fan of for quite some time; that one will be the next tune to drop so keep your eyes peeled! On that note I better get back to the studio – thanks again for having me!
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