INTERVIEW: dj poolboi

dj poolboi’s soaring career is one of those stories that will undoubtedly make for a great biopic a la Bohemian Rhapsody one of these days. After releasing a few tracks online in 2017, Adam Ansley found himself in an enviable position. His blend of emotional electronic music earned him accolades and enviable comparisons to some of the best left-field musicians of our time, while a cult following developed online on streaming platforms such as YouTube. 4 years later, poolboi is still evolving as an artist, incorporating nuanced influences, cumulating cool collabs and, just plain and simple: making dope music. As he was getting ready to embark on an international tour, the musician released la nuit n’en finit plus, a single featuring Clio, which will be included on his upcoming LP stay just a little while longer, out March 4th. To mark the occasion, we had a chat with dj poolboi to talk about his lo-fi roots, his favorite plugins and his hometown.

You recently released take me far away. Can you tell us when and how you made this track?

I made this track well over a year and a half ago in my bed late at night.

At the time I was feeling trapped in a loop of monotony in my life. I began feeling very anxious and frantic so I started experimenting with new sounds and synths to portray how I was feeling. I wanted to open myself up to new directions stylistically in my music to regain a feeling of freedom that I hadn’t felt in some time; while still remaining true to myself and the sounds I had developed previously up until that point 

You just announced your album stay just a little while longer (out March 4th). How did you develop your album? What was your creative process like? And what can we expect?

This was a much more deliberate and slower process than I’ve previously incorporated with my writing. I wanted each track to be a unique representation of how I was feeling at the time, and while they span several genres it was my goal for them to all come together in one collection as an amalgamation of emotions to paint one picture.

I spent much more time fine-tuning certain songs with little changes here and there until I felt they were finished. You can expect new and old poolboi to come together for this record, with some surprises thrown in as well.

Your album will feature plenty of collaborators. How do you approach collaboration?

With these collaborations, I began writing the instrumentals first. Then I would decide who would fit the track best with their own styles and reach out to those artists. I wanted to leave it open for them to put their own creativity into the tracks and work together.

I love collaborating with other artists, it opens up the music to go in different directions in ways that I wouldn’t have thought of myself. It’s always a pleasure working with really talented people and seeing what they add to the music, to use the best of our strengths together on one track. It also opened up the writing process of this album to be much less solitary and alone as was my previous work 

I always like to nerd out about gear and plugins. Were there any tools or software that were instrumental to your creative process while you were making your new single and/or your upcoming record?

I love to nerd out on gear as well haha, however, this was a very limited recording process on my end. I wrote everything in Reason, with some great plugins from the Arturia Collection. So I had wonderful synths and keyboards like the Prophet 5, Ob-Xa, Wurlitzer, and others.

I was glad to be able to record live acoustic drums as well at a studio here in Austin, as my first instrument was the drums and forever will be my favorite. The great thing about these plugins is that you can find a new sound on a new synth you haven’t heard before, and that could open you up to take the track in a whole new direction, so these tools are very much instrumental in the writing and crafting of songs 

Credit: Mitch Sargent

I'm curious to know what the scene is like in your neck of the woods. How do you feel your city has inspired you as an artist?

In my experience, Austin is very much not a lofi/house/electronic scene. There’s a lot of live bands, shoegaze and indie rock are very popular here. As well as punk and garage rock, but I haven’t seen very much electronic music present here.

Of course, that’s not to say that the city hasn’t inspired me as an artist. I think it’s because I’m from here that I started to perform in the first place. I’ve been playing drums in and out of bands since I was 16, and that was crucial in me deciding that this is what I want to do for a living 

Your project started as a lo-fi house output. I'm curious to know what's your opinion of this genre that has been renounced by some and is still adored by others. As you're maturing as a musician, do you feel the need to outgrow your lo-fi roots?

I fell in love with lofi, in general, many years ago. Lofi ambient music, lofi recordings from artists like Daniel Johnston and William Basinski. They immediately struck an emotional chord with me in a way that other genres didn’t. It was the texture and atmosphere of the music that really drove me to it. Once I discovered lofi house that was just another obsession of mine as it felt very new to me at the time.

I wouldn’t say I would ever “outgrow” those lofi roots, as it’s still very much a beautiful style and can be perfect for certain tracks. However I never wanted to be trapped and typecast into only one genre. I listen to all genres of music and sometimes I want to write something in a different style that lofi just wouldn’t be the right fit for conveying what I want to convey.

I think a lot of songs can benefit from clean production and a lot could benefit from lofi production. I felt now was the right time for me to make a statement that I don’t want to make the same song over and over I want to make what I want to make depending on how I feel. 

What are some of your favorite tracks at the moment?

That’s a hard question to answer, I wish I could get into all of them but there are so many I’m bound to forget some I really like. I’ve been listening to Vince Staples' new album, Black Country New Road, Reggie, PinkPantheress, Montell Fish, Alex Cameron, James Blake, Daughters, Grouper. Just to name a few, plus of course, I always have my go-to’s I’ve been listening to on repeat for years and years. 

You have many live dates lined up. What excites you about this tour?

I’ve never been to Europe so I’m unbelievably excited to have the opportunity to not only travel there, but play shows and meet people in that way. Playing shows is always a wonderful experience, being able to interact face to face with an audience, so it’s that much better that I get to be able to travel to new places I’ve never been 

What can we expect from a dj poolboi gig?

It’s my goal to always give my best when performing, so you can expect 110% energy from me. Lots of dancing and maybe me getting a bit emotional.

What's coming up for dj poolboi?

New music, new album, new shows. There are a lot of great new things coming up and I couldn’t be happier!

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COVER CREDIT: Ming Chen Photography