The Mix 042: sooyeon

You’ve just released your debut EP, ‘Block N Delete’. What made you want to dive into producing?

Producing always was something that I wanted to do. When I first started playing 10 years ago, I loved edits and remixes, and I still love a good remix, but I always wanted to do my own stuff. I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t for so long but I was focusing a lot on radio and the podcast. Other things took priority up until now. But then at the beginning of this year, I’d been single for like six-and-a-half years, and I am a serial block and deleter. I blocked and deleted the last man earlier this year and I was like ‘do you know what? I’m just not gonna date, I’m not gonna even talk to anyone. I’m just gonna do my own thing and focus on me.’ It turns out that when you’re not wasting time dating, you have more time, mental headspace and peace. It was the perfect time to start producing, so I started in March, April time. I know the DAW software somewhat because I was editing podcasts and radio shows and stuff on it, so it wasn’t a total beginner start. I was working with a producer, Adam Curtain, and he’s amazing. And we were working on this on the track ‘In Luv’ – that’s the only track that has like an audible vocal bit, that’s like: “In Love” – so I thought, well, we have to call it ‘In Luv’. All of a sudden, I thought – you know that meme with all the like numbers and stuff? I just saw the whole thing come together – it’s gonna be about blocking people and my dating life. From there, it came quite quickly.

And the EP has ended up rather circular thematically…

I spoke to Jamz Supernova because it was released on Future Bounce, and I had three tracks. She wanted four, so I made what actually turned out to be my favourite one, ‘Obsessed’. It’s so sexy. We sampled a woman climaxing. What better sound in the world is there than a woman climaxing?! And then the order was gonna be like the story of like, basically dating.

Funnily enough, I’m actually with someone now. But there you go. As we first started dating I was like promoting the record, so I’m there going ‘fucking delete, fuck him!’ online, haha. But yeah, it’s order just worked out: there’s the obsessed stage, the falling in love and rumination (obviously like my favourite fucking hobby) and then inevitably hating them, and then delete and then start it all over again.

Poetic! It’s a super interesting mix of genres, musically.

Over the years, I’ve started playing a lot harder, and rediscovering my love for techno, bass, UKG and house, and I think this really came through when making the EP. I would just start with an element I liked and build on top of that, and I guess it all just merged together. It wasn’t my intention, but it’s very me.

You mentioned your musical taste, and I’m actually curious where the whole ‘music thing’ began for you?

When I was younger, I went to quite a progressive art school in Canada. I was playing piano privately, but then at school you had to play piano and a second instrument as well, and we were put in bands; I was in a marching band! The school was like random as fuck, we did mime class for like five years, but I was so grateful to attend. I was really immersed in classical music. And then the first concert I went to was Sum 41 – I was basically obsessed with music. When I got into high school I met a friend who also makes music now, and we were obsessed with bands. We would literally skip school to go line up at like 1:PM until door, I was that girl. That was like my thing, skipping school just to get to the front, because we had to be at the front.

There was a Radiohead show that we went to and that was the gig. That shifted my love for music – before it was a love for going to concerts – but when I saw Radiohead perform, and saw that they were like a rock band yet incorporated so many electronic elements into their music, my tiny brain was blown. Rock bands were rock bands and DJs were DJs, I never saw them come together. Then, as I grew up, I would always sneak into clubs to go see DJs. Sorry to my parents, but I used to lie and say I was sleeping over at a friend’s house, and I would go to clubs. I really found an escape. I love Toronto, but I never really felt that it was home to me. Music was therefore not only my obsession, but it really gave me a purpose.

Because of that I dabbled on GarageBand when I was younger and then moved to London, which was always my dream. Within a few years of moving here I was working in a bar with my friend, and we just went: ‘Should we DJ? Why not?’. At this point I didn’t even know how to set decks up or anything. We started doing a club night and then I worked at a talent booking agency, before deciding to quit and pursue music full-time. That was eight years ago.

There’s literally nothing else in the world that I want to do. It’s the best job in the world. Yeah, I work hard for sure. But I’m so lucky to be doing what I’m doing and to be able to express myself in that way. I’m so grateful, it’s so amazing and it’s crazy that people are listening to and liking my silly little ideas.

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Beautifully put! So with that in mind, knowing what you’ve learned thus far, and as you step into this emerging chapter of your artistry, what would you say to the sooyeon of back in the day?

This name change is my gift to her. I am now able to provide confidence and comfort, and tell her that she is enough just as she is, and she doesn’t need to change. You’re not inconvenient. It’s gonna take a few decades, but you will get there and I will give that back to you because she didn’t have that at the time.

I think my name change is literally going full circle and providing everything that I wasn’t able to understand back then. What I felt I had to do back then was to assimilate, whereas now I’m like: ‘This is who I am’. This is who I am and I’m not gonna make myself small.

What does the future hold for sooyeon?

I’m working on more music. I’m planning my next few records now; I did want to just focus on my own body of work before dipping my toe into remixes but this month I’m self-releasing a fun remix of an artist I love. I’m jumping into the studio with some cool people – and not ones you would maybe expect from me – and potentially working on a co-production for some pop music. The podcast will also evolve as a continuation of exploring the topics we’ve spoken about; it feels like the perfect place. I’m also playing Drumsheds for the first time this month. But looking forward, I just wanna make some bangers!

With that in mind, can you tell us about your mix?

Changing my artist name marks a pivotal moment, not only in my career but also in my personal life. To celebrate this shift, I wanted to create a mix that reflects the empowerment I’m feeling during this time. It’s packed with attitude, confidence, moodiness, and high-energy club vibes. You’ll find a track from my debut EP ‘Block N Delete’, as well as an unreleased one coming next year, among tracks I’m loving playing in my sets right now.

‘Block N Delete’ is out now, get it here

Niamh Ingram is a freelance writer, follow her on Twitter