Interview Series: Vowl.
It’s hard to believe Inverloch, Australia native Nic Barron AKA vowl. has been producing for just over half a year; already a talented beat-maker, his catalogue of music is as varied as it is impressive – from serene compositions to massive bangers, vowl. keeps things fresh by adding different elements to each new iteration of his work.
Vowl.’s music is driven by trapped out drums, but the wide range of sounds with which he works ensures that his material never feels recycled. His track “bounce back” [read the track desc.] is one that we reviewed a little while back – it will at once leave you speechless, tearing up, smiling, and deeply introspective.
His song “omega,” meanwhile, makes use of brass hits – which have become increasingly popular in the trap scene lately – and an eerie, haunting lead to drive home an energetic effort.
The mellow ambience and atmosphere vowl. is able to create in his tracks would normally seem dissonant when paired with the heavy 808s of trap music, but in this case the result is the exact opposite – instead, the differing emotions and sounds are interwoven beautifully to create something truly special. As he continues to progress and improve with each new song, we’re exciting to see what the future has in store for this promising artist.
Read on for the full interview below!
No data to back this up or anything aha but it just seems like on a per capita basis, Australia’s got to have one of the greatest number of sick producers anywhere in the world – what do you think is the reason for that?
Hmm funny you say that actually because I know near to no producers from Australia! I only have one irl friend (harvest) that produces. There’s Flume of course, but yeah I dont know of many haha! 🙂
Edit: I forgot to add the artist swell, he’s another amazing Australian producer!
[Secret Shores: ok, admittedly, we probably just spend way too much time on SoundCloud hehehe, but be sure to check out spire and Arian Cook from Soda Island, LUUDE, Enschway, swindail, Sable, Feki, cln, Cosmo’s Midnight, CMRN and more of the plentiful talent which prevails Australia!]
What has been your experience with SoundCloud as a community?
My experience with the SoundCloud community so far has been really positive. Everyone is super nice and supportive. I find SoundCloud amazing in the sense that it is so easy to connect to artists and make friends. It’s super cool.
Your music seems to draw inspiration from all kinds of sources – who and what makes you want to produce?
Well I have always been a avid listener since I was young, and I always had thoughts and ideas of music. But I was never much of a computer kid so I never knew how to use any DAW.
Finally about 6 months ago I just thought ‘screw it’, I have too many caged ideas I need to get out of my system. And it’s awesome I feel like I’m finally starting to portray tracks how I visualise them now.
But I am a pretty emotion based producer, I try to make what I feel and see where it goes 🙂
Have you started to play any shows/are you looking to start doing so in the near future?
Nope no shows or anything as of yet. I’m going to be finishing school soon and moving into the city (Melbourne) and try get the ball rolling. Shows are something that I really really want to try.
You’ve spoken about wanting each song you release to be totally different from the last – could you elaborate on that?
Well I feel as if some producers have their ‘special formulas’ or templates, but it bugs me when stuff sounds too similar. So I’m just trying to keep switching it up, keeping my followers intrigued and keeping it interesting and fresh for myself! 🙂
Any recent projects that have really inspired you?
A constant motivator of mine would have to be oshi, just the sheer fact that he’s my age and he’s absolutely killing it, making awesome music and basically living the life that I hope to live one day is straight inspiring for me. But I’m constantly drawing inspiration from my friends on SoundCloud like gin$eng, king sol, brothel. and many others.
Who would you love to work with?
Would absolutely love to work with oshi or brothel. They are gods to me hahaha.
Have you been able to catch any shows over the summer? If you could see any artist of your choice live, who would it be?
Nah I haven’t! the trap/future bass scene in Melbourne is seriously underdeveloped, it’s super rare for any of my favourite artists to come around here sadly, one day hopefully. I would love to see oshi live no doubt, just his energy and music choice would make an amazing show.
. . .
Show vowl. some love:
SoundCloud | Instagram | Traktrain
(And check out our full SoundCloud Artist Spotlight playlist for vowl here.)
