Behind The Beat ep.3 - Changing Currents
Welcome back once again to another instalment of Behind The Beat, the monthly series where we explore the hottest producers and DJ’s making waves in their respective scenes.
Enter stage left, Changing Currents, the twenty-year-old who has seemed to master the art of groove, fusing influences from Soul, Disco and UK Hip-Hop.
His sounds have been heard down from the pebbly beaches of Brighton all the way to the golden haze of California. His production has been aired on the likes of BBC Radio 1xtra, RINSE FM and Joe Kay’s Soulection, as well as a premiere from DAZED.
2020 saw Changing Currents release his first ep, Exertion, a multi-genre project with soulful, kick-back and relax tones at the heart of it. He also dropped an edit pack which features face-screwing flips of tracks from Flowdan, Fekky and Travis Scott.
We caught up with him and chatted about his story up until now, and what he’s got in store for us in the not so distant future…
1) What’s your name, where are you from and what do you do?
My name is Changing currents, I’m from a little town called Lancing just outside of Brighton (but I just tell everyone I’m from Brighton) and I’m a producer first, DJ second.
2) How would you describe your sound?
Heavily percussion-based. It’s dancey with soulful aspects to it. You can hear queer elements in there as well. Pretty much just stuff that makes you wanna move, especially some of my newer projects.
3) Who were your 3 biggest musical influences growing up?
Michael Jackson (MUSICALLY!), definitely Kaytranada and then J Dilla was a big one for me growing up.
4) Is there a significant moment where you realised this could become a career for you?
Probably when I released the project (Exterion) in 2020. It was a shift of people just rating my music and supporting it to then listeners thanking me for making the tape and saying that they needed it. That’s a big difference and it was an amazing feeling. It made me think like, ‘Okay damn, I can actually do this! It just needs to be on a larger scale now’.
5) When’s your fondest memory of a concert you’ve been to?
Solange at Lovebox festival in London, it blew me away.
6) What’s your favourite track that you’ve been involved in?/ what’s gonna be the first song you play when we’re allowed back in clubs?
Fruit juice for sure. It was also really nice having the remix ep coming off the back of it as well. The variety of sound everyone created from just that one tune was incredible and lots of the flips were from artists I’ve been looking up to for so long as well which was cool.
7) What would your dream feature be? / who would your dream b2b be?
Sade, I grew up listening to her man, my mum would play her vinyls all the time. Her voice is so soulful, I reckon I could see her on a housey beat by yours truly.
8) How did the opportunity with Soulection come about?
Joe Kay was playing at the Boiler room festival and I stood next to him, I was literally losing my mind and he was loving my energy, then like the week after he put on his socials ‘find me this guy’. We chatted on Instagram and he saw that I made my own music and he really enjoyed it so asked me to do a show for the radio. It was really a right place, right energy, right time moment- amazing though, I’ve been influenced a lot by that kind of future soul vibe they’ve got going on.
9) What can we expect from you in the coming months?
So many singles getting rolled out consistently.
10) And finally, have you got any gems of wisdom for any young producers or DJ’s out there?
Be yourself at all times, if you’re not true to yourself people will notice and be able to hear it in your music, no one wants that. Yeah, that’s the thing I’d say is most important, embrace your own energy and it’ll show massively in your work.