Flaurese

Variety has been Flaurese's intention from the start, aiming to exemplify the diversity inherent in dance music. Drawing on his heritage, the London-based DJ and producer brings to the fore a range of influences that combine with a keen understanding of the here and now. This ethos allows him to make dance music with a fresh take, adding something to the club scene palette in the process. “I think, more often than not, people go to a night and it will have a rigid template of the types of artists, sounds, influences and presentation,” Flaurese says, adding that he finds it more exciting when a DJ dares to veer from the norm. “I like when people aren’t afraid to throw in a few random records; I enjoy the unpredictable nature of it. It just makes it feel more alive.”

This desire to keep experimenting harks back to the wide array of pop-up genres people couldn’t put their finger on. In fact, it wasn’t until he started listening to Rinse FM as a teenager that he truly found an entry point to get into dance music. Rummaging through his brother’s cassettes and CDs and discovering house for the first time gave him “more of a perspective on dance music in its later variations”. His musical horizons were broadened even further by his older brother, who showed him the worlds of dubstep and grime; “they would buy Lord Of The Mics and go and be down at the record shops buying all the early releases”. Playing video games like Grand Theft Auto San Andreas also opened his ears up to many different sounds, as did going down YouTube wormholes.

Later, between studying music tech and DJing while at univeristy, he discovered post-dubstep artists like Dirty Projectors, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and SBTRKT. “I think anywhere where there was a moment of fusion between genres was a big eye-opener to me,” he says. “I was intrigued as to how they made the record”. This interest in the fluidity of genres and how sounds are created became a key influence on the music that he would make and DJ out under the name Flaurese.

Having prepped slick guest mixes for Primavera Sound, DJ Mag, Rinse FM (UK & FR), Balamii and Reprezent, he also received strong press support from DJ Mag, Line of Best Fit, Ransom Note and many others in the process. His debut two-track EP was released on Boston Bun's 'Circa 99' imprint and its lead single, ‘Sake of Lust', received radio support from Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1 and Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 6. Bonobo & TEED also featured it in their BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix, which he describes as a huge moment as those are two of his music heroes. Flaurese followed this first release with his single ‘Silk Robe', on Monki's label '&Friends', where she highlighted him as her 'one to watch' for the future.

Now, Flaurese is back with a new four-track jazz-infused EP, ‘Over My Shoulder’, which he hopes will “show people a little bit more of me and keep people guessing”. Telling a story about physical intimacy and mistaking love for lust, ‘Loath to Love’ is a smooth summer-festival-ready groover that calls to mind Kaytranada while the 808-led acid-tinged ‘In My Arms’ is primed for sweaty club workouts. The thread between these tracks is that they all have a singalong vocal weaved into them. “Adding a vocal can completely change the whole feeling of the track”, he says; one case in point is the EP’s first single, ‘I Want You’, on which a sultry female singer adds a layer of temptation over hi-hats and synth pads.

Having always seen songwriting as one of his main interests, he says that a love for catchy vocal melodies - particularly old disco and soul records by Carly Simon, Luther Vandross and Parliament Funkadelic - was hugely influential when it came to starting to build his own tunes. “I would mumble an idea and turn that into lyrics and then send it to someone else and get them to add baselines in,” he says. Citing The Chemical Brothers as another inspiration (“I just love the way they were able to make a song and it not just feel like a beat”), he hopes his tracks subconsciously reach a happy medium between “a really catchy melody that sticks in your brain and a beat that can be played in the club”.

Rather than trying to elicit a specific feeling, as some artists may desire, Flaurese says “whatever the experience is, for better or worse, if my music triggers something, then I think my job is done. Even if it just relaxes you for a moment or gives you time to think about something else, it doesn't have to be a complete euphoria.”

While dancing is naturally a big part of it, he says it goes beyond that - “to incorporate all forms of movement”. This sentiment rings true with the concept of his new EP, which was formed around listening in on other people's stories and taking that as his inspiration. “It’s like peeping in and being the fly on the wall, based around people telling me about something that's gone a bit wrong,” he says. The EP’s title, ‘Over My Shoulder’, can be taken literally, too; i comes from the fact that many of its tracks were born from him overhearing conversations or friend exchanges while out and about or on the tube. “In my head, I've made a melody and then I've thought about something or someone, or overheard a conversation, which then gives me the song idea”.

Making music is just one side of Flaurese’s multi-talented artistry, however, as he creatively co-created the music video for his single ‘Sake Of Lust’, which went on to win an award for 'best music video' with Clubbing TV. As someone who constantly thinks about how music can be visually represented, he says “If I see something I like, I take a little snippet of it and then reimagine it in a way. I'm keen to explore that again in the future because I think that is what makes things memorable”.

Rather than being just another dance act, Flaurese wants to “build more of a long-term story”. It’s an artistic ethos that stretches to his goal of wanting to make the dancefloor more uninhibited - like it was back during the 90s rave era. “I think, with social media these days, there’s a certain fear of someone spotting you singing, dancing or interacting in a particular way. Whereas, back then, people would just go for it! So, in my head, I just think, ‘why is that not a thing now?’ And that’s what I want to bring back!”

Whether he’s cueing up curveballs behind the decks or his silky tunes are grooving into a life of their own free from the speakers, Flaurese is on a mission to make everyone move a little more freely.