Q+A: Darius

French producer & artist, Darius released his latest album OASIS. The project is a cosmic blend of R&B, funk, disco, as well as modern electronic elements to create a sonic “oasis.” He builds his interpretation of French house around cerebral landscapes, full of symbolism and arrangements that move with a dreamlike logic. Inspired by his journeys across the globe, OASIS offers new horizons and explores faraway sounds. It's full of a cosmic, star-filled romanticism and creates colorful, vibrant moments, which are reflected acutely in the visuals he's made to accompany the music.

We had the opportunity to chat with Darius about the process behind his latest work.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us today Darius.

I wanted to start with the name, is that just a stage name or is it your real name? If it’s just a stage name, what made you decide on Darius?

Yes, it's my stage name. At the beginning when I decided to make music seriously I started by creating my space. I was looking for a name to create my profile and actually, I had put "Darius" in the meantime because I didn't really have any ideas for a pseudonym at the time. I thought it sounded good but in my head, it wasn't serious, it was just temporary. In the end, when my friends discovered my page, my music, and the nickname, everyone thought it was cool, so I finally kept it.

Did you have musical projects before Darius?

No, this is the very first one I created.

What got you into pursuing music as a craft?

There were a lot of personal events and chain reactions that led me to make this decision when I was a graphic design student in Lyon. I had money problems, my boss couldn't pay me either because he had cash flow problems, I ended up failing school because I was demotivated, in parallel I had a roommate that was going very badly, and I experienced a heartbreak etc.

In spite of all that I had the chance to have musician buddies of my age who made their job, who shared their music on the internet, who played in DJ set and I found that too cool, so I wanted to do the same and considering the situation I was in I took this decision very seriously. I locked myself in my bubble and music gave me a second wind and made me forget everything else.

You’ve put out a plethora of great remixes and original music. When creating, how does your process change from doing a remix to creating original pieces?

The only difference with a remix compared to an original music is that you don't start from scratch. Each time I get the separate stems of the original track so when I work on it I can rely on the voice and build something around it. That's usually the only element I keep. For an original, the creative process is really different and more personal.

Your musical evolution from Velour to Oasis Prelude EP has been pretty fantastic to hear, what were some key musical moments during your journey where you could firsthand witness your sound evolving?

Thanks a lot! Actually, this is something I try to work on daily, as a musician, I need to constantly evolve, progress, stay curious and understand why and how people are more or less receptive musically. I like to explore new sounds every day and to study music in depth in all musical genres. That's why in each of my releases you can see a musical evolution.

Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming project and what we can expect?

I'd rather not comment on that and instead, let people interpret freely what will happen next. All I can say is that you can expect me to continue to expand my musical color palettes!

When did the conception of this upcoming project start and when did it finish?

It's been a long process but I would say it started when I finally managed to find a new sound that was in tune with my mood and the person I am today, and the starting point was the release of our track "EQUILIBRIUM" with Wayne Snow.

When did it end? I'm still asking myself that question, for me, it will never end.

What was your thinking behind having a prelude EP?

In fact, it allowed me to be able to share my music faster and more freely rather than following the standard release mechanisms that take months to prepare.

It was important for me to entertain my project followers with these new releases because I hadn't released anything in a while and I'm also an artist who experienced the early days of soundcloud where you shared music spontaneously, even just after exporting a track at the end of its creation. But yes I like the format of the EP and I like the idea of making an introduction to a new chapter too.

Any plans to tour the album?

I will continue to tour in a more global way in relation to the Darius project, where I will present all the sounds I have released so far. Because for me, each release that I named "Velour", "Romance", "Utopia" or "Oasis" is in a way a translation of the person I am and that evolves musically with a different energy in different times.

Will your tour consist of a DJ show and live performance?

Yes, it will be a DJ show but I wanted to have a special stage support which is personal to me and which will be able to retranscribe at best each musical nuance by strong and immersive visuals.

Your music spans so many genres, how would you define it?

I don't really know that's a good question. And I must confess that I'm not really looking to belong to a specific genre because as I said above I like to be able to offer a musical diversity, to be able to include all kinds of sounds so that the result is as rich as possible. In the end, if I can touch people's souls with my music that's all that matters no matter what genre.

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