track by track: Desert Sound Colony – Cracks

Blending 90s nostalgia with a sense of dancefloor ambient psychedelica, Desert Sound Colony has another EP on the way via Scissor and Thread. Comprised of four cuts that get your brain working at full capacity, this new batch of sounds disorientate you until you surrender to their might. We asked Desert Sound Colony to talk us through each track so we could find out a bit more about just what exactly is turning our brains inside-out;

Cracks in My Soul

The tracks in the first two EPs where either written in Bristol in 2013 or London in 2014. There is a distinct difference between the two if you pay close attention when it comes to the sound and lyrics because right around the time that I moved I was experiencing some of the more difficult things that life can throw at you. I wont go into details on here, but Cracks in My Soul is most definitely from the London side and its probably the most emotionally driven of the DSC tracks. I wanted it to be a release in every sense, so I spent a long time working on the drums and percussion to make it as easy to move to as possible.

Howling at the Dark

Howling was actually one of the first tracks that I wrote for this project and its still probably my favourite. Unfortunately I think a lot of people have, and will continue to listen to DSC on either shit headphones or out of computer speakers but it was always written for club sound systems. This track really came out of dissatisfaction with the type of music I was being expected to play when I was DJing at the time. I was always closing nights and although it was good in its own way, it really just made me want to start writing slower and weirder music to play out.

Favourite Game

Another Bristol number, Favourite Game basically fell out of me faster than any of the others. I think it was written and completed in a matter of hours and that really adds a certain quality to it that I enjoy. It really mirrors how I felt at the time but it's a strange track because it jumps back and forward from melancholy to ascendance over and over again. 

Riverbed

Riverbed was the last track to be written and added to the EP and It is a bit of a homage to John Martyn who I had been listening to a lot of around that time. I wanted to write a track that you could just sit back and lose yourself in, get carried along for a while and then reach the end without realising you had got there. 

Cracks is out on 27th April via Scissor and Thread. Catch Desert Sound Colony live at Birthdays, Dalston on Thursday 23rd April.