Review Fix chats with Dzang, who discusses their new EP, Glacial Erratic and more.
Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?
Dzang: I started playing when I was a little kid: violin at 7, guitar at 9. All my friends played too so by middle school we had a band. I was in bands throughout high school and college, which eventually led me to producing for other people.Â
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Dzang: It really depends if I’m working by myself or with others but my ideal process for Dzang is to jam with some great musicians and a good sounding studio and then edit all those spontaneous ideas into to something more “composed”. But, because of quarantine, this EP is just me by myself. Instead of musicians jamming I had all my synths running together and then I edited all the best bits together after the fact.Â
Review Fix: What inspires you?
Dzang: Oh wow, so much… these days though, seeing friends and playing music with other people. Covid really made me realize how important collaboration is to me. I always knew it got good results but now I know that I actually need it to be my best.
Review Fix: What does music mean to you?
Dzang: Everything. It’s my meditation, therapy, socializing, and peace of mind.
Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?
Dzang: I usually say something like “down-tempo, come-down grooves”.
Review Fix: How are your live shows different from your studio work?
Dzang: The Dzang shows after my last record (3G) were really fun because I was playing with a real band (Olivia Kaplan, Jorge Balbi, and Georgia Lill) and there was a lot of listening and stretching out on stage… things took on a different form every night. These days, I’m trying to figure out how I want to do that by myself for this music.
Review Fix: What inspired your latest single?
Dzang: ‘Retreat’, and really the whole EP, was made after a mind-blowing trip that my partner and I took to Alaska. We spent time in Denali and Glacier Bay National Parks and witnessing the water cycle at a glacial scale and timeline just really blew my mind. It re-contextualized the climate crisis for me and so, for me, the music ended up being about states of change and how the “balance” we and the earth are always seeking is actually a flow-state. Nothing stays the same forever; in fact, stagnancy is death.
Review Fix: What are your goals for 2021?
Dzang: Honestly, just to be around people and make music with them.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Dzang: A lot of projects I’ve been working on are coming out this summer. I produced a record for Olivia Kaplan that’s coming out July 25th, playing shows with her and also Buzzy Lee, and then at some point there’ll be a record from my ambient side project, Cove.
Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?
Dzang: Thanks for listening! Making music isolation, its hard to imagine people actually hearing it. It means a lot to me to have you pay attention.
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