DRYDEN reinvents himself with intricate debut, ‘MINUTES PAST VOL. 1’ [Interview] – Dancing Astronaut

Dryden Brown was at all times destined for artistic pursuits. His dad, a musician, at all times appeared to have him plucking and poking on the guitar or piano—relying on the day. Finally, Brown gravitated in direction of the piano, the place he would sit and pore over music for hours on finish. Again then, it was a strategy to go the time when he was bored. But it surely quickly turned a full-on obsession.

In 2017, Brown formally kicked off his skilled profession as an artist together with his entice and bass undertaking Lemay. His second-ever launch, “Stunt” with sumthin sumthin, would go on to build up tens of millions of streams. In 2018 he launched “Mumble” and “Digital Catastrophe,” each songs that may go on to turn out to be competition mainstays after being performed out by the likes of Tiësto, ILLENIUM, and Ekali to call a number of. And he was featured on RL Grime‘s Sable Valley Summer time Vol. 1 compilation in August of 2020 together with his single “Organized Confusion.” What Brown was in a position to accomplish together with his Lemay alias is not any small feat. However in January, he known as the undertaking quits.

“Two years earlier than I made a decision to finish the Lemay undertaking I began to really feel not very proud of the place I used to be at with it” explains Brown. He says he had backed himself right into a nook musically and was now making music within the curiosity of appeasing others reasonably than for the unbridled love of it. “Plenty of these songs that I wrote for Lemay got here from a really darkish place. Every time I’d get booked to go play reveals, I must re-listen to all these songs and make these units… I used to be sort of placing myself by way of like psychological hell simply to push the undertaking ahead,” he says.

Regardless of some severe highs, Brown felt he was at an deadlock each in music and in his life. One thing needed to change. He says he remembers considering to himself, “There’s actually no greater strategy to create a buzz than to start out one thing new. So I used to be like, fuck it.”

Energized by his resolution, Brown started the method of deciding what was subsequent. “When eager about the route I wished to take with my new undertaking, I began asking myself ‘What would [I] hearken to?’” It solely made sense to call his undertaking simply that: DRYDEN.

In September he formally uncovered DRYDEN to the world. Every week after that he launched “SAY IT RIGHT,” a bootleg of Nelly Furtado’s tune of the identical identify on SoundCloud, as the primary style of what to anticipate from his new alias. Brown went on the discharge three extra bootlegs within the weeks that adopted with “D.A.N.C.E.,” “HIDEAWAY,” and “GOT YOUR MONEY,” becoming a member of “SAY IT RIGHT” to make up his MINUTES PAST VOL. 1 bootleg pack.

MINUTES PAST VOL. 1 is refreshing. Every observe contains a groove galore. The sound is eons from the entice anthems harkening again to his Lemay alias; and that’s the purpose. The bass line in every of the bootlegs is remarkably nuanced. And he really stumbled upon that sound unintentionally, dubbing it a “full accident.”

“I used to be making a future bass tune and I wished to make a bass layer beneath, and I by accident threw the bass layer onto like this guitar contact preset… After which ever since then, I’ve simply been sort of tinkering with it to attempt to get it to a spot the place I actually favored it and nonetheless gave the impression of gritty sufficient… but additionally have that swing and that vibe that I used to be going for to get individuals to maneuver and really dance.”
-DRYDEN

Whereas he could have stumbled upon his new sound by blissful accident, DRYDEN was very purposeful about the place he sourced inspiration for his new sound. “I got here again to plenty of the stuff I grew up on. Plenty of older ’80s stuff like Michael Jackson and Earth, Wind, and Fireplace. I began to fall in love with music once more,” he says. Specifically, Brown attributes the instrumentals and the notorious bass traces in Michael Jackson songs as huge influences on him. “They make you’re feeling such as you’re strolling down a darkish New York alley at evening time with the fog arising or one thing. They make you’re feeling like a badass,” he says.

The music of the ’80s isn’t his solely supply of inspiration, although. He takes plenty of inspiration in his sound design from fashionable digital titans Justice, in addition to producer Ian Kirkpatrick who’s labored alongside a bevy of music royalty like Dua Lipa, The Chainsmokers, Selena Gomez, and extra.

Mates are one thing that Brown referenced as a vital half to what made DRYDEN doable. “I need this to be music that individuals can identical to hearken to strolling down the highway or driving down PCH or taking a protracted trip journey with your pals throughout the nation,” he says. Over his years in music, he’s met a ton of those who have helped his new artistic route, amongst them are members of the San Diego Waterboys. “All of them have positively helped me a ton. Frost [Dancing Astronaut Artist to Watch in 2022 FrostTop] has been like my proper hand man,” he says. And it’s not simply the artistic aspect that he leans on his buddies for assist with. He factors to Flosstradamus and RL Grime particularly as buddies which have helped him navigate the murky waters of the music business when he’s wanted steerage. “To have the ability to have them a cellphone name away, getting their insights and listening to their story, helps a ton,” he admits.

As for what’s subsequent, DRYDEN plans on letting this bootleg pack sit for a little bit so followers can digest it. However there’s a lot extra music within the pipeline. Because the “Vol. 1” signifies, there’s a second bootleg pack on the best way. He says that’s coming doubtlessly a number of months down the highway, and that he’s focusing on spring or summer time for the primary authentic releases. “I wanna be very selective and choosy with the music that I put out and I really need it to imply one thing and be very true to me,” he says.

Much like his strategy together with his launch schedule, he’s additionally taking his time earlier than enjoying out his music in a dwell setting. “My purpose is to not play any reveals till I get to some extent the place I can headline a smaller tour just like what Julian [ISOxo] simply did,” Brown says. The distinction in his strategy with DRYDEN is extra than simply within the music; it’s within the mindset as nicely.

A part of that change in mindset revolves round branding, which he acknowledges as a weak point prior to now. “I feel the largest factor I discovered from Lemay was that I didn’t actually care about having a model or making any type of visible property for something,” he recollects. Now, as a substitute of simply utilizing property labels present him and posting them to his socials, he’s now going out of his strategy to blaze that artistic path for himself.

Brown says he acknowledges that “music is just a small portion of being an artist.” He elaborates on this essential sense of dynamism inherent in any artistry: “For those who’re not constructing a world that individuals can dwell in and be enthusiastic about then you definately’re not likely constructing an artist. You’re simply constructing songs. I wish to construct my very own world and inform my very own story.” On this sonic world his MINUTES PAST VOL. 1 bootleg pack serves as the large bang. And Brown is hellbent on telling his story by way of DRYDEN till it’s a world teeming with life.

Tags: bootleg, bootleg pack, DRYDEN, interview, Lemay, minutes previous, minutes previous vol. 1

Classes: Options, Music