Track By Track: Perth Producer Ukiyo Discusses His New EP 'Fantasy'

Ukiyo's new EP is titled 'Fantasy'.
Our eclectic team of writers from around Australia – and a couple beyond – with decades of combined experience and interest in all fields.

Young Perth producer Ukiyo released his new EP, 'Fantasy', earlier this month. With vibes akin to Flume, Moby and Blockhead (serious, take a listen), Ukiyo is an Australian electronic musician worthy of your attention… now.


In a word, 2018 has been 'hectic' for the 21-year-old; he has racked up more than 9.5 million Spotify streams to date plus an appearance at Groovin The Moo festival series and support slots with Quinn XCII.

With a mix of headphone-perfect songs and dancefloor fillers as well as collaborations with vocalists Chymes and Feelds, Ukiyo has crafted a release that is top-shelf Australian EDM.

Ukiyo has supplied scenestr a track-by-track summary of 'Fantasy'. "Hey there. My name is Ukiyo. If you haven't heard of me I'm a producer in Perth, Australia.

"I've recently had the pleasure of releasing my sophomore EP 'Fantasy'.  It's a pretty special release for me because there's nothing I love more than releasing an EP or (when I get there) an album.

"I've always had a pretty big fascination with soundtrack music, and the escapism and ambiguity this type of music can deliver. I hope I can take you on a little journey while you listen through, just as I've been on a journey making it for you."



CLICKY

This one came about super quickly right in the middle of summer last year. Usually my songs start with a chord progression, but this one started with the percussion hence the name.

I put together a list of hundreds of slightly cooler names, but inevitably none of them stuck. I walked down to a nearby park with a picnic rug to keep working on the track and it was here I recorded the stabby-synth stuff just using my laptop keyboard.

SOMETHING LIKE THIS

The oldest song on the EP. This one stems all the way back to 2016 before I had any kind of following. The demo was simply titled 'flute' and it was surprisingly very similar to the final track apart from a really horrible mix.

Early 2017 I travelled to Melbourne for a show and it was here I met FEELDS. His solo music is quite different, but hearing his voice live and the harmonies that came with it, I knew instantly it'd be a perfect match for the song.

DRIVE

I studied saxophone pretty intensely throughout high school and I've been meaning to get back into it recently. 'Drive' came about when I dusted it off and played along to some real groovy, hip hop beats I'd found online.

I recorded a little bit of it, chopped it up, distorted it to oblivion and ended up with the melody that runs throughout this track.

LIFE

The first song I made in the mindset of playing it live at my shows. I really wanted to create a feeling of euphoria in this song; none of the instruments really stay in one spot.

'Life' came about super, super quickly because I started it the morning of my second live show and ended up playing a pretty complete version that night - the reaction was overwhelming and I've been dying to release it every since.

LONESOME

I've got quite a few low-fi tracks that I haven't done anything with yet; this track started as one of them, but I felt like it deserved more. Hopefully I'll be releasing the others soon.

I wanted this song to sound like a wintery beach day, so I took my laptop down to the beach and finished most of the song there. There's a heap of atmospheric sounds and layers in this one; I always try to pull out my phone when I hear a cool sound and a heap of them ended up in this song.

GO

Written on the plane ride home from the same Melbourne trip where I met FEELDS - productive week! I wanted to make a song that kinda threw out the standard song form, building to an epic ending kinda thing. Super inspired by Porter Robinson's 'Sea Of Voices' and Coldplay's 'Fix You'.

I'd been struggling with some pretty serious writer's block at the time, so the song kinda felt like a representation of the struggle. Chymes absolutely nailed the vibe with their vocal contributions and the rest is history.

It's the first Ukiyo song that got a music video, so I highly encourage you to check it out. I think it's pretty damn breathtaking.

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