For the last 10 years New Zealand producer Bevan Smith has been involved in a number of musical projects including bands Ruby Suns and Skallander as well as solo journeys as Signer and Aspen. His latest musical vehicle is Introverted Dancefloor where he takes two synths, a mic, filter, and an effects processor and creates a music that is firmly rooted in Detroit techno, disco and electro.Apparently it takes him a while to put everything together but judging by the stuff we’ve heard so far the results are well worth it.“Take It High” the second track to be lifted from his forthcoming self-titled album on Carpark is full of Smith’s wispy vocals and cracking production.Have a listen to the track and read a quick chat we had to him about frozen mountaineers.Noisey: The line ‘To be frozen by the high altitude’ reminded me of a recent Wikipedia discovery ‘Green Boots’, the name of a climber who froze to death on an ascent on Mount Everest and whose corpse (and green boots) are still used as a marker for other climbers.
Bevan Smith: I didn't know 'Green Boots' but I have read up on the number of deaths on Everest before like in this article. It's pretty horrifying. I got pretty obsessed with this story of a climber right near the top of Everest who was dying yet no one stopped to try and save or help him as they climbed past. It's a more complex issue than this sentence indicates and was pretty big news in NZ with Everest being close to our cultural heart.Have you found much interesting/weird stuff on Wiki?
I mainly use wiki to read plot synopsis on TV series that I don't want to spend the time watching, but that I want to know what happens.You’ve said that you like to do three albums then move on. Can you see three albums in Introverted Dancefloor?
I hope I can do three. I have the next album written and ready to start the mix process. It should be ready in 2023.Ha! You’ve spent a lot of time working on this album. How do you know when a track is complete? Did “Take it High” in particular take long?
Yeah, "Take it High" was really hard. I just loaded up the session and there are 136 tracks in there. I rebuilt it three times and spent at least a week getting the kicks and bass stuff right. As for knowing when it's complete I never really 'know'. I just work on it until I can't be bothered working on it anymore. I guess there's a point where the difference between the expectation and reality is less distasteful than the amount of effort I'll have to expend.You say the songs are hard to play live. In what way?
A number of reasons. First, I guess I work on them until I hate them so that's kind of hard to play them live. In a practical sense a lot of them are tuned non-440hz and the tempos are silly. Things like 124.5634BPM. I'd have to retune my synth per track which isn't a big deal but is still a mental block. They're often in a difficult range for my voice, which again adds another block. Mostly I just prefer playing new songs.
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Bevan Smith: I didn't know 'Green Boots' but I have read up on the number of deaths on Everest before like in this article. It's pretty horrifying. I got pretty obsessed with this story of a climber right near the top of Everest who was dying yet no one stopped to try and save or help him as they climbed past. It's a more complex issue than this sentence indicates and was pretty big news in NZ with Everest being close to our cultural heart.Have you found much interesting/weird stuff on Wiki?
I mainly use wiki to read plot synopsis on TV series that I don't want to spend the time watching, but that I want to know what happens.You’ve said that you like to do three albums then move on. Can you see three albums in Introverted Dancefloor?
I hope I can do three. I have the next album written and ready to start the mix process. It should be ready in 2023.Ha! You’ve spent a lot of time working on this album. How do you know when a track is complete? Did “Take it High” in particular take long?
Yeah, "Take it High" was really hard. I just loaded up the session and there are 136 tracks in there. I rebuilt it three times and spent at least a week getting the kicks and bass stuff right. As for knowing when it's complete I never really 'know'. I just work on it until I can't be bothered working on it anymore. I guess there's a point where the difference between the expectation and reality is less distasteful than the amount of effort I'll have to expend.You say the songs are hard to play live. In what way?
A number of reasons. First, I guess I work on them until I hate them so that's kind of hard to play them live. In a practical sense a lot of them are tuned non-440hz and the tempos are silly. Things like 124.5634BPM. I'd have to retune my synth per track which isn't a big deal but is still a mental block. They're often in a difficult range for my voice, which again adds another block. Mostly I just prefer playing new songs.
‘Introverted Dancefloor' will be available Sept 25 on Carpark.