Artist Spotlight: Icarus

While cruising around the interwebs earlier last week, we stumbled upon monster label OWSLA‘s SoundCloud account which was promoting it’s newest release from British duo Icarus — a group we had never heard of. We listened to the EP, entitled Steal the Sun, and immediately did an album review.

To our surprise, the group had only 200 likes on Facebook and about 250 followers on SoundCloud. Surely this had to be a mistake. How could a group that released it’s first official EP on such a giant label have less than 1000 likes and followers?

Truth be told these guys have only just now broken on to the scene but are by far and away the most promising group to have been released from OWLSA this year.

Needless to say we knew our next Artist Spotlight would have to be on this brother duo who have already proven themselves to be the next big thing. We were able to talk with Tom about the group and where they’re headed.

Just Noise to Me: What got you into producing? Was there one song or artist that made you want to start producing?

Icarus: Well, we both grew up playing musical instruments and through our teens played in several original and covers bands.

I (Tom) moved into a house full of DJs when I started studying music at uni and became hooked on mixing vinyl. From there it was just a natural progression into starting to write and produce dance music.

Ian started a couple of years later, so after we were both finished at uni it seemed like a good idea to put our heads together and see if we could write anything decent!

JNTM: Who are you favorite artist right now? EDM or not.

Icarus: We’re into a lot of different styles of music but if we had to name 3 in ‘dance music’ then it would be Kry Wolf, Clean Bandit and Maribou State at the moment.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/114896117″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

JNTM: The new EP seems to start at one end of the electronic music spectrum and completely shifts to another. It almost seems to go from radio-friendly pop to some really deep house/booty house… Describe that transition and where you find inspiration when working on Steal The Sun.

Icarus: We like ‘song writing’ as much as we enjoy writing for clubs so we wanted to try and include some different styles into the EP, without any tune sounding out of place.

We think we’ve achieved a diverse EP at the same time as being able to tell each track is from Icarus. We hope there’s something for everyone in there!

JNTM: How has being brothers helped the production process? Is it any easier or harder than producing alone?

Icarus: We find it pretty easy working together, which is lucky! We’ve never had any major fallouts over anything. It’s good having two people working on a track because if you get stuck or hit a brick wall inspiration wise then hopefully the other person can step in with an idea.

JNTM: How does it feel to have your first official release on OWSLA?

Icarus: Fantastic! It’s an honour to be involved with such a prestigious label. The guys are great to work with and we’re stoked that they want to promote our music!

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/114896067″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
JNTM: We recently listened to your BBC1 Radio One mix for Monki and loved it. What’s your general aim or goal when making a mix like that or playing live?

Icarus: Thanks! Well with that mix we only had half an hour so it was a case of picking favourites and getting as many tunes in as possible!

When playing live we want to keep people dancing so we tend to pick more dance floor orientated music. If we were doing a mix for a CD or Podcast or something like that then we’d more than likely vary the type of stuff we play.

JNTM: What do you think the biggest differences are between the EDM scene in the UK and the US?

Icarus: Well it’s hard to comment on that considering we’ve never been to the U.S. Here in the U.K though things seem to move pretty quickly.

There’s such a highly concentrated amount of talent here and we’re excited to be a part of it. We’d love to get over to the U.S in 2014 though so watch this space!

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/114895806″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

JNTM: What’s in store for Icarus in the future? Tours? Remixes? Can we expect to see you on the upcoming OWSLA tour?

Icarus: We’re working on our 2nd EP right now so we hope to get that released in early 2014. We’ve done a remix of Bastille’s single “Of The Night” which should be out fairly soon.

We’ve also got another original tune coming in November on a compilation but you’ll have to watch our social media for info on that!

We’ve done a remix for an OWSLA artist too which we’re super excited about. Again though, eyes on our social media for details of that!

As for touring, that’s something we want to start doing ASAP so promoters should get in touch with us now!

JNTM: A question we always ask: If you could have any other profession, what would it be?

Icarus: Tom: Spy // Ian: Zoo Keeper

For more on Icarus, like them on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter and SoundCloud.