Introducing: Irrelevant

Quite ironically, Colchester-born DJ and upcoming producer, ‘Irrelevant’ embodies all the current trends of his time. Having established his name in the underground scenes spinning tech-house for many years and adopting influences from close friends Synkro, Burial and Radio Slave to name but a few, Irrelevant has finally released his debut album ‘Little Figurines’ available to buy HERE. On the edge of a career turning point, we caught up with Irrelevant to discuss atmospheric production, remixing techniques and creative connections.

Considering album-titled track ‘Little Figurines’ is based on the previously-written theme that features on his 2011 release ‘I’ll Be OK’, it’s clear by the contrast in style that Irrelevant’s sound has drastically developed over the last couple of years. He comments “my style has certainly evolved since I started producing.  I feel far more comfortable in the studio now. I’m not musically trained and I’ve always made music for myself so I’ve never felt pressure to create a certain sound to appeal to any one person or scene.”

However, these admitted shortcomings in technical training are arguably made up for in effortless creative flair. Irrelevant explains “I like to play with vocals, atmospheres and found sounds a lot, I record a lot with a digital audio recorder others I just stumble across by chance” and as a result, debut ‘Little Figurines’ embodies the experimental ethos and unusual sample choices increasingly adopted by the leading players in electronic music today in a release “primed for headphone commutes and midnight chills alike”.

Overall however, Irrelevant describes his sound as “deep dark emotional electronic music” that has been shaped by the creative figures around him. “I am surrounded by a great pool of creative friends such as Synkro, Indigo, Radioslave, Shed, Burial and Unkle who were my biggest influences in getting into production”. Although it’s early days in terms of his own material, remixes such as his ‘Delta X – Suppression’ remix have received much specialist acclaim. He expands, “for the Delta X remix, I wanted to bring in the vocal effect because the original track already had a strong instrumental riff running through it like a vein. My approach to remixing differs from project to project but as a general blueprint, my mind is always focused on adding something personal to someone else’s track. He explains “music is subjective, varying and unrestricted in its scope. It should be a creative release and a reflection of who you are. That ethos is reflected in my creative process and advice to budding producers”.

With his EP released on Kokeshi, Irrelevant is a good match for the increasingly renowned Independent label. “From the start Alicia (Alley Cat) and I have had a really good musical connection and the ethos of Kokeshi fits perfectly with what I do. It’s the meeting of our musical tastes that has meant a great relationship.” Looking to the future however, Irrelevant is holding his cards close to his chest. “I’m soon to be working on some collaborations and a secret project that I’m trying to get off the ground. Outside of that, I’m hoping to be play a few more sets than I did this year. My favourite sets this year have certainly been those at Fabric for Kokeshi, but I try to mix it up by playing anything from Ambient to Jungle. I’m hoping to do more with AtsuBox in 2014 and there’s some bits coming up with another couple of producers that are still in progress at the moment. Only time will tell.”

Irrelevant’s debut album ‘Little Figurines’ is available to buy from 16^th December HERE.