DJ and Producer Leon Vynehall steps down in Australia for Pitch Music and Arts Festival

Leon Vynehall is an artist that refuses to pigeonhole himself into one specific genre. With an electronic music career spanning house, ambient, music concrete, garage and more, the British electronic music producer and DJ has become a creative powerhouse not to be reckoned with.

Leon’s live set, soon to be blessing Australia’s shores at Pitch Music and Arts Festival, will be an audio-visual experience that delves into the mind and ego of an artist. I was very lucky to chat with him as he rests up in Byron. We discussed all things live set related and uncovered how he can constantly evolve his ideas, output, and performances. 

RF: Hey, how’s Byron?

LV: It’s an elixir for the tired mind I have. It’s lovely! My friend Jono has a really nice property out here.

RF: Has it been a really hectic time for you?

LV: To be honest, I feel like life is always hectic. I can’t remember the last time I had a bit of respite… not that I’m complaining. I took my foot off the gas last year with touring and DJing which allowed me to write a lot of music. Now it’s become busy again - I'm getting ready to come out and play!

RF: Yeah, last year seemed busy for you with your releases and all your shows.

LV: I did the Fabric compilation, and a single that came along with that as well as a tour around it. Plus, live shows etc…. In July, I put out another two songs too. There were also some releases, but it wasn’t an album cycle year, which made it a little calmer. I always like to use the iceberg analogy - there’s a lot more going on underneath the water than what you can see at the top.

RF: You’ve been performing this live set for a couple years now, right?

LV: Yeah, I debuted it in 2021 at We Out Here Festival in the UK and did a headline show in London. I’ve been doing it on and off since then. Actually, this run in Australia, for this particular show, will be a ‘full stop’ with its setup and playlist. It’s a part of the Rare, Forever world which is drawing to a close now.

RF: Talk me through the process of creating your live set from the ground up?

LV: The form of the show is really dictated by how the music is written and what it’s asking you to do visually and sonically. For example, on the record I made before this, called Nothing is Still, I explored more neo-classical, ambient, and jazz music genres. There were a lot of live musicians on the record and in the live show there had to be four of us on stage. In the next album the themes became a bit more insular: I explored my ego and what I was trying to do with my life. To bring other people on stage within that framework and narrative felt a little odd. It also made me want to do a show where It was only me on stage.

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RF: How do you prepare for the shows?

LV: For my upcoming Pitch set, I listened back to my music and recalled how I wanted to play it at the time, thinking about all the equipment I used and how much I can take with me. Once I sorted that, I then figured out how I wanted things to look. I worked with a great lighting designer, Josh Mansfield, from a company called Tourlite Design. We sat down together, I shared my vision, and we refined concepts together. We then spent a couple of days in a black box theatre, creating all the programmed lighting.

When I’m on stage, I run the show all off my one laptop: it pumps out all the musical information through the equipment and also sends light information. That means that every time I trigger certain music, the lights do certain sequences like colour washes. There’s a lot of prep that goes into it from the purely conceptual thinking all the way down to the nuts and bolts of facilitating.

RF: When you’re writing the music are you thinking about how it’s going to look live?

LV: I would say no, not necessarily. If I thought like that, it might limit how I would write or show up mentally. There’s a lot in the studio that I wouldn’t be able to recreate alone on stage. I can get boxed in if I think too far ahead.

You want to be in a flow state and focus on the creative task at hand rather than thinking about what people might think or how the set can be performed. I remember James Murphy, who writes the music for LCD Sound System saying that when they perform, they’re just trying to be the best LCD Sound System cover band they can be. I kind of think about doing the live show in this way. There’s plenty of tracks on the record that I don’t play live because they don’t fit in to the context.

RF: I always think it’s interesting how different artists discuss what their live show means to them. For instance, many like to jam a lot on stage or in the studio.

LV: I’m not really one of those artists that ‘jams’ in the studio. When it comes electronic music, I’ve never been very good at that sort of thing. I used to do that when I was in bands as a teenager. Now I've come to something a lot more singular and private.

RF: When you’re exploring ideas in the studio and on the piano for example, are you structuring before you record, or do you cut up a long recording session of yourself playing?

LV: I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule for every single song because it’s totally different. You mention the piano and I might sit at the piano and write a whole solo piece for it. For example, the last song on Nothing is Still, is a piano song called It Breaks. That was me literally writing and arranging the song as I was playing it. Whereas most of the other records weren’t done that way. Sometimes I’d hear something in my head and do the arrangement up there. Then, I’d sit down and extract that sound and idea from my brain into my hands and onto whatever I’m touching or playing.

You can have lots of fruitful ideas from jamming or pointing at a piece of equipment and playing with it but it’s not productive to limit yourself to that way of writing all the time.

RF: Do you feel like the best creative ideas come out of the limitations you set yourself?

LV: Absolutely! For example, here in Byron at my friend Jono’s place, he’s got a studio and we decided to go in, point at some equipment, take pieces out and only use those to make music. It’s a really fun exercise. Some of the stuff we came up with was really great! We would have never thought of those ideas had we been faced with hundreds of guitar pedals or synths. It works better to just say ‘I’ll stick to those five bits of kit.’

RF: Now that you’re making more new music, what’s inspiring you?

LV: I find that conversations with people are really inspiring. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about music, how we feel about certain situations that have gone on, or even certain theories about things. I think conversation is the best form of collaboration even if you’re not making something physical together. Whenever anyone comes to my studio, the sound isn’t made for the first few hours. We just sit and talk which I feel is the most important part of any collaborative process. Having a rapport with someone allows you to create more fruitful and informed musical decisions. You also build up a lot of trust within the studio environment, which is really important, and allows you to be vulnerable.

I think this time around on the record I’m writing now – without saying too much about it – I’ve been collaborating with vocalists and other players a lot more. I’ve also been doing a lot of producing for people over the past few years. I’ve really opened up my studio door to other people and tried to help write their music and support them to finish their own releases. I’ve learnt so much in doing that. Not only about how to work with other people but also a lot about myself. That’s been really inspiring.

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RF: What about musical influences?

LV: I listen to a lot of different music. Over the past few years, I’ve grown a real love for contemporary US rnb, hip hop and rap music. Although I’m not making that kind of music, the open and forward-thinking nature of those genres have been really inspiring.

People not sticking to a certain sound or genre is also so inspiring. You know, Lil Yachty putting out a psychedelic record recently is just incredible to me. Damon Albarn is another person I respect because he’s made a lot of creative changes over the course of his career. I think artists have more longevity when they take those new turns. I’ve never wanted to stick to one thing, and I feel like I’d get so bored not changing my musical direction. One of the most amazing things about being alive is that it’s so great to learn different things. If you don’t do that as an artist then why the fuck are you doing it.

RF: I love that idea of constantly evolving and learning through making different sounding records. Your earlier music seems to involve more sample heavy production whereas now there is a lot more synthesis even within the drums. What do you think has led to this change and progression?

LV: Well I’m not the same person that I was in 2012 when I put out my first record. I’m not the same person I was when I put out any of my projects. As time goes on, the music changes as well as the approach. Moving forward I take things that I’ve learnt along the way with me. It informs how I write and what I want to write and even who I want to write for. There’s no real plot. I’m not trying to be facetious either, it just feels right at the time. It’s just the artistic pursuit where you always want to find that thing that makes you excited. There’s no grand plan in terms of what I’m going to write in the future but there is a grand plan in terms of where I want to be. I’m also creatively greedy. I love listening to something and thinking ‘ooh I’d love to try and write something like that.’ I like to collect ideas as well as be able to interpret and use them.

RF: Is there anything that you’re excited about in Australia? Anything special we can expect from you at Pitch?

LV: Yeah, I’ve got new music in the set for Pitch for sure. I’ve heard great things about the festival so I’m excited to present the show there. To be honest with you, I love being over in this part of the world. I’ve got friends here, I love playing for people here, and really enjoy meeting new people. The food is great too! I don’t think you guys realise how good you’ve got it haha! Me and my partner were spending some extended time out in Melbourne over new years and around the Peninsula. We said we’d love to live here but it is halfway around the world. It makes it even more special when we come to visit though, knowing that we don’t get to do it so often. We get to relish and cherish the moments We have here. So that’s what I’m excited about! Just being here in general!