BEHIND-THE-ALBUM: TOUCH SENSITIVE'S 'IN PARADISE'

In Paradise is out now!

Image: Vasili Papathanasopoulos.

Dance artist, Touch Sensitive recently returned with his second studio album, In Paradise. We caught up with the artist and producer to unpack the release.

This Saturday, Touch Sensitive will take to the stage at The Night Cat in Melbourne for an evening of simmering live music. Joined by his full band, tickets are on sale now.

This is your third album in eight years, and it has been four years since you last spoke with MILKY. How has your artistry evolved throughout this time in to what we hear on In Paradise?

I would say that, what has taken place on In Paradise is the amalgamation of eight years. Coming to the realisation that it's gonna be way better if I get other people involved and have fun while I'm doing it, instead of stressing while I'm doing it - which is what I felt like I would be doing. I mean, no, that's not true, but a lot of the time when I was by myself, it is fun and it is exciting, but my life's a little bit different now, so if I can book a studio, go somewhere with friends, have a hang, make something, and hopefully it comes out. When we did all these sessions, it was kind of just like throwing stuff against a wall to see what would stick, you know? When we did the sessions, there was so much music to go through. So I feel like the past eight years has led me to where I am now, which is the realisation that if I get other people involved, it's going to maybe be better, maybe be different journey. Things that happened wouldn't have happened if it was just me. So I feel like that's what's happened in eight years, that realisation.

You mentioned there getting people involved, obviously across the album you worked with some awesome people. Connie Mitchell, Tony Buchan, Larry Dunn, Julian Sudek and Florian to name a few. How did you go about curating your collaborators for this album, and how important do you find collaboration in terms of expanding your own artistry?

Yeah, it was cool because it gave me more of an opportunity to focus on the bigger sonic picture. So because I was just doing my thing, I could like be a little bit more like, 'oh, this works, let's go in this direction, how about that?' But also, you know, when I was putting the sessions together, there were some days where some people weren't available and other people were available. So it was kind of just like a luck of the draw thing. There were definitely days where I was like, 'oh these certain combination would be awesome'. A lot of it was to a certain extent whoever was available at the time. Then there were some occasions where it was maybe just me and one other person. So yeah it was different every time.

Sonically, it is quite a nostalgia-fuelled record and lives within this disco, piano house realm. How did you go about crafting the overall sonic palette of the album?

Initially the sessions were all done to tape with all the real stuff. After we did the first sessions and then I put everything into Ableton, literally as soon as I imported them into the sessions, they just already sounded awesome. A big part of it was getting someone whose focus, I guess you could say is also engineering, you know? And Ross who played drums, his focus is playing drums, you know, so it was like getting people who were excellent at whatever particular instrument [they played]. So that was the first part, and then the second part was working with Tony Buchan, who was like, 'hey, why don't we put this through that?' We had so much fun just putting ridiculous amounts of chorus on things. I guess the whole premise of the record is primarily to impress my friends, and to not really compromise and to not have verse chorus and verse chorus because I feel like there was a time where I felt like putting verses and choruses in things was the answer to my problems of having a hit or having something do well. I felt like it had to be a song, whereas the project started out as being instrumental. Historically I was just more drawn to the instrumental mixes of things. So I guess it's kind of like gone a little bit full circle in that respect.

The album is led by this concept of paradise and perfection, influenced by its title. How did that theme reveal itself for this album?

There's a couple of reasons for that. The first would be that because all the computer music now is so sterile and so programmed and so straight, people spend a lot of time trying to back engineer the human element into things. So you know, if I was making something by myself, I'd be agonising for a day over drum fills and stuff. Whereas if I just got a drummer to come play it, he would just do all of those fills instinctively. It's automated in a human way like those things are just programmed into musicians, that when they play, they get to the end of eight bars or a phrase and they feel they need to do a variation. Whereas when it's in the computer, you can go back and program all that stuff in. So there's that part of it. The second part of it is as far as like the paradise, everything's automated, it's never the machine that makes a mistake. It's always the human, if something's not working. For example, your [broken] computer camera is probably something that you've done, not the computer [laughs]. So it gets back to that. But then also, and by no means am I shitting on computer music, I also did actually even embrace AI technology for a track on this record called Paradise. So there is AI in that track, but then I went back and replaced the AI stuff with human stuff. So as far as Paradise and the tropical holiday feel, all that stuff kind of really kind of came together once I got together with Tony. Once we got the percussionist Maura Refosco in to play percussion, then everything just kind of just took on another dimension of summer party cocktail on the beach kind of vibes. That's the evolution of the vibe.

I'm so curious. What was your experience like working with AI?

It's entertaining. It's like, it's just another tool. I feel like it's only as good as what you put into it, but also it's kind of not quite there. But having said that, I have a friend who's made an album of disco. So basically he's just done all these prompts to make disco records, and then out of those disco records, he's made house records and they sound amazing. But they do kind of sound like that, if you know what I mean. Like, they're not quite there, but that's kind of what makes it cool. I feel like it's the idea, but you still need the gear. It's cool if you have the skillset to take it and treat it as another member of the ensemble. Who kind of is maybe a bit... doesn't have the human element or touch, or the human, I'm not gonna say inaccuracies - yeah, inaccuracies, you know where things are just slightly a little bit here or there. Like a little bit push and pull, like not exactly on the grid. Which I feel the AI stuff kind of is. You could program that in, I'm guessing. It was more entertaining. Like some of the stuff that come out is like, 'whoa.' But then to the same extent, a lot of the stuff that you're putting in comes out sound sounding the same. If you know what I mean. The sonic palette is like pretty... I mean but this was a while ago now, so I'm sure It's way better now.

When it comes to writing and creating, do you find that you have over the years had quite a distinct creative process? Or do you think each project takes on its own form?

That's part of what led me to where I'm now, because I just got so sick and tired of my process and needed to switch it up. After doing like the Genesis Owusu record with [Andrew] Klippel, the way he did it was definitely, I was like, "Oh my God, it's nothing new but it's just music." That's how music is meant to be made, and I'm not saying that it's been forgotten, but it's not a luxury that everybody has access to. So I guess I was just kind of like, 'you know what, I have these people around me, I should totally capitalize.' Well not capitalise on it, but it would just be so much better if they're part of the process.

As an artist who works and creates with so many other artists, how do you approach your own work vs creating for, and with, others? Is there a distinction or is does the line get blurred?

Yeah, it's tricky because no matter what I try, even if I do have to do something for someone else, I really struggle with this; I just kind of always really, I guess more or less sound like me. No matter how hard I try, there's just things that I do or just habits that I have. Actually one thing this year, or not this year, but like post-record, I have this one clap sound that I've been using since forever that I got off, I don't want to name drop but [laughs] Flume gave me this clap that he got from Kaytranda and I just literally put it in everything. I'm at the stage now where I'm like, I just can't use this clap anymore. It's done actually, it's in one song on the record, that's the last time I used it. So I have to delete it from my library. That's the road that I'm on, is trying to just push myself out of my own habits and my own ruts.

Now you'll be doing the full band show in Melbourne on November 8th, which is super exciting. What's in store for the people attending this show?

It'll be pretty much, like 80% of the people that will be performing in the group that night have been on the record in some capacity. I think at this stage, KYE is gonna be doing vocals, Florian [mikii] who hopefully can do it, and everyone else that was part of the record will be there too. In the past when I've done live band shows, I've done them with a computer. That's another thing, with this record; everything that is on there is playable and you don't need ten hands to perform it. There aren't a crazy amount of overdubs or anything, so it's kind of able to be recreated. There's hardly any techno in there as far as big washy buildups and all that kind of stuff. So I'm really looking forward to just stretch the songs out and not be bound by structures and quick tracks and stuff. That's one thing I'm super excited about.

Do you think you'll do further live shows outside of Melbourne, or is it more a one off?

Yes, definitely. They're in the works, but when exactly they'll happen is still being figured out.

When it comes to like live music, how important do you find live music, not only in terms of being able to showcase your art, but make an in-person connection with your audiences as opposed to online?

I mean, I feel like all of the online stuff and the Instagrams and the videos and all that stuff, I wouldn't say they've taken the place of a record, but like a record is basically, really a promotional tool now. It's a business card to do gigs and to do shows. So I feel like that's the final frontier, is the actual live show and the live performance and everything else is just a tool to kind of bring people into the world and hope that they come to a show. So super important.

To finish off, if you had to pick three songs from the album to play to someone who had never heard your music that you think would make them an instant, which three songs would you choose and why?

Okay. The first one I would, oh, that's tough [laughs]. They're all my babies. Okay, I'll just go through my favorites. I really love On The Ice because I made that with my friend Freyja Garbet, actually mikii sings vocals too - I think she's on that one. I just love the vibe of that. It's kind of like a jazzy-ish Italo kind of thing, but lyrically, I had a friend who, when he got the shits he would just ice people out [laughs]. So it just, 'uh' and 'uh, uh' [sings the songs melody] it just fit the lyrics of On the Ice. So that, for those reasons. Secondly probably maybe, Club Med Anthem just because it's a feel good one, and Love To The Limit just because it has heavies on there. Like Connie's vocal is insane, and the backing vocals and string arrangements are crazy. Larry Dunn's presence and all that stuff. That track in particular, when we did it, it was called Slow Jam, and I wouldn't say it was an outlier, but it was a cool instrumental. I didn't really know where it sat or what would become of it. Then one morning I came back to the studio and Tony was like, "Hey man, I stayed here late last night and sang some backing vocals on Love To The Limit." He played me all that 'bada ba ba ba' [sings the songs melody] all that stuff that and like oh my God! Then that just took on a completely different role, and actually, you know it makes sense, when I sent Larry Dunn a bunch of stuff to see which one he would vibe on, that was the one that he wrote back and was like, 'oh yeah, I love this. I'll do that.' Then of course that's kind of a nod to all that Earth, Wind and Fire and Brazilian stuff. That was another thing actually in the record, was I didn't wanna do versus and chorus. That's where the vocables tip came from. They're the three that I would probably choose to play someone.

In Paradise is out now.