After penning an exclusive deal with globally-renowned imprint Armada Music, emerging producer pronouncedyea is starting the year off on the right foot with the release of his newest single on January 31st. Featuring starlet Molly Moore on vocals, pronouncedyea’s “Freedom” is the first release from the Syracuse, NY native in nearly a year, setting the stage for a massive year to come.
Listen to ‘Freedom’ Feat. Molly Moore on Spotify!
The aptly titled “Freedom” showcases pronouncedyea’s production skillset at its fullest, with each bar introducing a fresh element of sounds into the mix. Molly Moore’s husky, soothing tone is never overpowered throughout, rather being buoyed by a lush instrumental bed of synths. The slightly pop-tinged record further displays what makes his sound different and unique among his peers, solidifying his rightful claim as one of electronic music’s most capable and eclectic young stars. On one hand, his music is modern and built for the main stage. On the other hand, each tune is incredibly multifaceted, comprised of innumerable layers and complexities.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Tell us about that first track that put you on the map in the electronic scene and the journey since. How did you get started?
I think the first track that really put us on the map was Breath I made with my homie Pluko. That track really unexpectedly changed everything for us – went from being totally unknown to our first 10k streams, first 100k, and then first million (soon 10mil!). The Journey since has been crazy doing stuff I never ever thought I would end up doing and meeting amazing people all across the world. I got started back in high school when I had the chance to take a sort of 2 week class on Ableton instead of finals so I did it and it changed my life forever. I liked electronic music and learning that it was something I could potentially make blew my mind and I fell in love
Tell us about your latest track ‘Freedom’ on Armada Music
This is a track that went through so many versions before the one you hear today. I really love this track especially knowing how long it took to get to this final rendition of it. The final version you hear today I actually made in an Airbnb while I was down at SXSW one afternoon when I was told I had to make a final demo by the end of the day. So I locked up sat down and came up with the version you hear now and amazingly enough its now out on Armada! Was a very fun journey making that track and seeing it finally be released felt great.
What single night out has been the most memorable for you as a DJ and producer?
It’s definitely tough to pick one, but the spring after breath had come out I got the opportunity to play at SXSW. I remember playing this showcase and it was so packed and everyone was vibing and I hadn’t really played real shows before so this made me feel like a real DJ. I got to play all my own music and everyone was so hype and supportive – it definitely changed my view on DJing and performing forever. Forever grateful for that opportunity.
Tell us something we wouldn’t normally find out about you.
I’m a pretty open book unfortunately but maybe one thing that I think is fun is that for a brief period of time I was highly ranked in a small online card game in Europe.
Give us the name of one track that never gets old for you no matter how many times you listen to it?
Trying to think of just one is super difficult since there are so many! So I’ll go with one that I was actually listening to today. Kid Cudi – Soundtrack 2 My Life. That track will forever be one of the greatest songs in my memories and I’ll never be sad hearing it
Dream collaboration and why?
I get asked this question a lot and I have to say there are a ton of people I would wanna work with but one person who I started working with who I never got to finish the track with was a producer named octbr. Definitely one of my favorite producers and getting to meet and hang out with him was great. Our track that we never finished is pretty sick IMO and I would love to work again if he ever wanted to come back to electronic music!
If you could play any festival, which would it be?
I played Electric Forest a few years back and I don’t think it hit me how cool it was until after I had finished playing so I would definitely want to play Electric Forest again. I would love to have a chance to play again and really give it 110%. That festival is awesome.
How do you get a track started? Tell us a bit about your production process. How long does it take you to complete a track on average and do you ever get writer’s block?
So I tend to approach every track a little differently depending on how I’m feeling. But definitely one of my “go-to” methods is laying down some chords and then jamming a bit over them until I get something that feels good enough to move the track forward. At that point I usually start to structure it out and then build off the structure. I try not to get too hung up on technical stuff early on the songwriting/production process because I find that it can halt my progress pretty quick and I never reach the “structure” stage. But I feel like staying fresh and new with how you start tracks makes your tracks feel more original and exciting. By falling into the same start I feel like it can make your tracks start coming out the same.
A track can really take me anywhere between a few hours to a year! Hard to quantify but some of my favorite tracks took one afternoon to wrap up while others took over a year.
I used to get writers block a lot and I still do but I try not to think of it as writers block. If I’m really stick I just stop music for a bit and find inspiration in the world. Forced creativity sounds forced so whenever I get to that point I try to find something, anything that can give me inspiration.
Latest track / EP? What are you working on currently? Tell us more!
Well I think you might be as excited as me to hear that we have tonssss of singles lined up right now. I’m very thankful that this past year after graduating I have been able to pursue music full time which means tons of music. Releasing music does take time though, but I can say the next single will definitely be out by April at the latest! Aside from singles and various tracks I am always working on mixes and am excited to put more of those out also. I’m not sure how much I can say on these tracks but I will say there is a wide variety and I’m very excited to see what people think of the different styles were going to be putting out.
The relationship between the audience and the DJ is crucial, and yet it seems to be a fragile one – how do you see the balance between giving the crowd what they want and treating them to something new?
I’ll be completely honest, when I play a show I play mostly what I want to hear! I don’t really tend to focus on the balance too much and sometimes it doesn’t work but I’ve been pretty lucky so far! If I get the opportunity to play music on a nice sound system I’m going to take that opportunity to play and perform tracks that I want to hear on that system. Most of the time the crowd likes it also which is great! Basically if you come see a pronouncedyea show, you gotta have faith that I will play tracks you didn’t know you liked yet.
From the very beginning, pronouncedyea has sought to break the mold of what one comes to expect from electronic music production, while simultaneously mastering the delivery of time-tested formulas. Music fans can take solace in pronouncedyea’s propensity to deliver a harmonious balance of quality and quantity, as well as enjoy the steady flow of world-class remixes/collaborations with musicians like Maggie Lindermann, Icona Pop, Pluto and Moxie Raia.
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pronouncedyea – ‘Freedom’ Ft. Molly Moore is OUT NOW! via Armada Music
