After three, long years in-the-making, electronic producer Kuren aka Curtis Kennedy has finally dropped his debut album, 'Melting Conceptually'.
Released at the end of June, 'Melting Conceptually' features three singles: 'Bright Dawn', 'Mastercraft' and 'Never Enough', and has caused quite a response among the listening public. “Anything from just blogs and posts to people DMing me on Instagram or coming up to me after the shows; it's been amazing feedback,” Curtis says.
“It took so long to get that record done and it feels so nice to have people coming back saying what their favourite parts of the album are or what tracks they like the most. It's definitely a good feeling to have all the love come back at you.”
With the album being written, recorded and produced over a three-year period, Curtis says 'Melting Conceptually' changed drastically over the course of making it. “Originally it was called 'Welcome To The Future' and it was going to be this cool, super-electronic, futuristic-sounding record,” he explains.
“As my career path went on I started meeting different artists, collaborating with different people and seeing different parts of the country and getting inspired in different ways. I started using lots of live instrumentations, guitars and stuff, and stepping away from electronic bits. Then I was able to mould the two together to make the record.”
As Kuren, Curtis has already made his mark on live music audiences as support for artists such as Illy and PNAU.
With the release of 'Melting Conceptually' Curtis will take the next step with his own, headlining Australian tour in August. “That's something I've been working toward for a while now but I think it's something every artist should do and should take the plunge to do; it's a very high-risk/ high-reward kind of thing,” he says.
“We played Brisbane and Melbourne with my own headline show a couple of weeks ago and it was just epic. It felt like a completely different show because everyone was there for me and they all paid money to come see me, so I'm looking forward to the other shows on that tour.”
Largely self-taught in the craft of production, Curtis began his career humbly as a bedroom producer before realising he wanted much more from a career in music than to just stitch together beats and samples. “It was more so making beats just for fun really and even making beats for rappers or remaking beats that were already made,” Curtis says of his early days.
“As time went on I went through a change in who I am as a person. Then I was able to open myself up to what being a musician means and what being an artist means, and I got really into the idea of legacy and what I would leave behind after I'm gone.
“So that changed everything for me where it became more about how do I do this the best I possibly can for myself, rather than just doing it for fun.”
'Melting Conceptually' is available now.
Kuren Australia Tour 2018
Fri 3 Aug - Lansdowne Hotel (Sydney)Sat 4 Aug - Fat Controller (Adelaide)
Sat 11 Aug - Jack Rabbit Slim's (Perth)
