In the modern globalised world, geography shapes house music and defines house genres. Every so often an artist comes along that blends influences across borders to create innovative, new music. One such artist is Xavier Bacash, aka Sonny, who set to release his debut album, Union: Integration Of The Shadow, on the 24th of April through his very own label. The Copenhagen based producer is bringing Scandinavian House to the English-speaking world, but adding in a bit of his home Melbourne sound to the mix. Where Australian producers like Major Lazer feature Danish artists like MØ to expand their Australian sound, Sonny is using his Australian perspective to explore his Danish influences.
Sonny only moved to Copenhagen three years ago, after more than a decade of making music. As a sporty kid in school, and self-admitted footy fanatic, he never paid attention to musical instruments and theory. After a friend showed him French house duo Air’s debut 1998 album Moon Safari, Sonny began DJing at age 16, illegally, around Melbourne. Twelve years later, he moved to Copenhagen, falling in love with the Scandinavian sound.
“When I first moved here,” said Sonny, “the style of house music was very different to what I’d heard. I wanted to uncover it, kick the dust off it and expose it.”
A year and a half into his journey through Denmark, Sonny founded his very own label, Northern Underground Records. The idea was that Northern Underground Records would be a “creative hub for Scandanavia,” allowing him to release this distinct music. While he predominantly releases his own music through the label, other signings include sample based house producer Gooch. This year, Northern Underground is full speed ahead with the release of Sonny’s debut album. As an Australian producing European music, Sonny explains that founding his own label was crucial to his creative process.
“It allows you to be your own master. I couldn’t put out this record with a major label. They don’t have the patience for some of the tracks.”
Without the restrictions and demands of a traditional label, Sonny was free to make a record, rich in Danish house conventions. Moving away from pop, tracks like “Transient Feeling” are long, with a slow progression tailored more for a Danish club than a radio station. Some tracks, like “This Will Be Our Year”, feature spoken Danish layered over beats. Even his latest single, “The Feels”, which he believes a traditional label would rinse and repeat to fill out an album, has an underproduced, raw quality that stems directly from his Scandanavian influence. This is namely in the analogue synths he uses, which include an Oberheim 12 synth, Casio CZ-5000 and a xOxbOx 303. Sonny believes his use of real instruments over digital equipment can be heard in his music, from the push of a synth key to the tape reel on a mixing machine.
“(The Feels) has a life to it. The sound is raw, rich, spacious. It’s a petite recording with lush pads and a good feel to it. That’s why it’s a great icebreaker for the album.”
While his music is firmly grounded in the European style, there are many unique elements in his music that come from the introduction of his Australian identity to the Danish sound. These range from little influences, such as the melody in “The Feels”, which Sonny says reminds him of ICEHOUSE, to more direct references, like the track “The Great Unknown”, which is about Australia and the disconnect that modern Australians have with land and country. However, Sonny takes his unique Australian perspective further on the album, using it to add a layer of self-reflexive cultural exploration. While Sonny aims to promote Scandinavian house, the album isn’t about that. The album is about a foreigner, coming from Australia and exploring, embracing and changing because of a strange, new land. The track “Eksjö” features ambient recordings from the Scandinavian wilderness, allegorising this theme.
“(Eksjö) is me as an Australian interpreting the Scandinavian wilderness. The ‘Australianess’ comes from me exploring the new land. With that comes a bit of naivety and so I think the album becomes a bit of a diary of my three years here.”
According to the man himself, there are three standout tracks on the album. First, there is the genre bending “Euromantics”. Next is “Liquid Phase”, which Sonny loves for its 90s dub/jungle early Air references. Last is “Sensory Systems”, produced alongside Melbourne-born Berlin DJ Kris Barker. Created on a modular synthesizer, the sound Sonny and Barker created can’t be reproduced, making the track a sonic time capsule of those recording sessions.
Union: Integration Of The Shadow is out April 24th. Be sure to listen to his latest single “The Feels”, which he describes as the perfect entry point to the album, here: https://lnkfi.re/HKPRegTq