Welcome to SOUND ADVICE, Interview’s weekly destination for playlists curated by our friends, enemies, and lovers. In recent weeks, we’ve featured playlists from Organ Tapes, August Ponthier, and Jonah Abraham. This week’s installment comes from East London-born producer, composer, and the co-founding father of hyperpop Danny L Harle, who dropped his first full-length album, Cerulean, this past Friday. Featuring collaborations with an array of experimental electro-pop icons including Dua Lipa, Caroline Polachek, Clairo, PinkPantheress, Oklou, and even his own daughters, the album intends to blur the line between rave and renaissance into one cerulean-colored universe. We tapped Harle to make us a personal playlist, then we pressed him on Cerulean, Bushwick vs. Shoreditch, and the true meaning of hyperpop.
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Merriam-Webster defines cerulean as “deep blue in color.” What would you add? It unites a lot of sonic, emotional and lyrical elements of my album without planting too strong an image in your mind. This was particularly important to me as I wrote this album as a music-first statement. My album is called Cerulean btw.
Synth of choice? Erica Synths Steampipe 8-Voice Polyphonic Physical Modelling Synthesiser, I want to live in whatever dimension that flute is being played in.
Which song on this playlist makes you cry? All of them.
What song on the playlist gets you hype? All of them.
What’s an analog sound that should be turned digital? I do enjoy a synthetic aerophone.
Most shocking collaborative experience? Working with the pigeon master during the filming of my Cerulean film. Everyone needed to be quiet for his entrance to not scare the pigeons but it also added to his immense aura.
What’s your favorite toy in the studio? A fan gave me a bat detection device that detects high frequency audio and pitches it down. I haven’t found a use for it yet, as I typically like pitching things up, but it will have its day.
When you make music, do the big lights stay on or off? I don’t think I’ve ever turned on the main light.
What can we learn from the sawtooth waveform? The “Supersaw” is the most beautiful sound in the world, the sound of infinity. It is comprised of 7 stacked saw waves, so perhaps the lesson there is “it’s not just a phase”?
Favorite video game? Majora’s Mask – it’s proto-Dark Souls in its poetic use of game mechanics.
Name a recent hyperpop song that’s actually Elizabethan polyphonic at its core: I’m not entirely sure what hyperpop is, but I wouldn’t mind hearing “Oreo” by Tohji played on a virginial if that counts.
Bushwick or Shoreditch? Neither, walking around central London will do me forever thanks.
What does nostalgia sound, look, smell, and/or taste like? One thing I know about nostalgia is that it isn’t as good as it used to be.
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