Simon Irvine [unedited]

Simon Irvine on Spotify

Simon Irvine

Interview & Review

                  When I first started listening to Simon on #MonsterThread, I couldn't figure out his genre. "It's interesting, when I started doing this seriously, I was writing traditional pop songs - with lyrics and all. However, I have made music in a range of genres, from dub through to rock. If you had to pin me down on what I am doing at the moment though, I would say that I am broadly exploring two genres - electronic dance music and trip-hop" Simon tells me. 
                           In the last 20 months, he tells me that his fan base has grown, and his influence to start developing and producing music is rather similar to a lot of other artists. "I was inspired to start making music by my first-grade teacher, who handed me my first guitar. I went to a very small school - only 12 kids - so everyone there was taught the two things that the teacher loved - guitar and chess. I pretty much started making my own songs right from the start but got more serious about writing in high school when I took up keyboards and got my first sequencer." The fact that he first learned how to play the guitar is actually pretty similar to many artists I've talked to. In fact, I have even learned how to play the guitar.... I actually own a Fender and acoustic guitar!
                      "Lots of things influence my songs. It can be the weather, work or even what my young son is enjoying. For example, my boy is a huge fan of straight-up techno, so I wrote Song For Stirling as a piece for him. I am also influenced by what I hear. As I have listened to more and more independent electronic music, I have been inspired to explore a broader range of sounds and structures."

                            My favorite song by Irvine, "Dubbleboc (A Collage)", is very different than his songs like "Natsu" and "Experiment Number 6". Simon tells me that "Dubbleboc (a collage) was written about a year ago and was the first track where I started to seriously explore more 'pure' electronic sounds and marked my first attempt to develop a kind of trip-hop sound. It's different to everything else on my debut EP - Pluralism but is definitely something I have explored more recently. With dubbleboc, I was really trying to play around with texture - to build up heavy and light passages using treated vocals alongside synth pads." Other songs I like are "Experiment Number 6" and "MOTS" because the first song (Experiment Number 6) has a Kohilo-like feel to it with the singing in it and the  MOTS has a good house feel to it. Simon also tells me that his Spotify EP (Pluralism) cover art was done by a New Zealand artist/photographer, Maiken Calkoen, who Irvine met when he was traveling South America. "My most recent single - which is currently available for purchase through QRates, has an awesome cover photo done by a local (Brisbane, Australia) artist, Rina Farlow. For my Soundcloud and Bandcamp releases, I do all of my own cover design."

                  "I have recently started doing remixes. My first was for Pixel Rust, who has included the remix on a limited edition CD of his latest EP. And I have just completed a slow, triply remix of a song by Lemonade Kid that will hopefully see the light of day in the not too distant future."

                             In five years, Simon is hoping to still be making music with much enjoyment and happiness. For future tracks, "ideally, I would like to eventually devote more time to making music and further my production and writing skills. So, to that end, I am going to keep working my backside off with the aim of reducing the amount of time I have to spend at my day job and earning at least a little of what I love doing the most." The tracks are on its way as soon as possible.

Overview: ★★★★1/2

Pluralism: ★★★★1/2

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