Swedish producer HNNY is something of an anomaly in today’s electronic music world. With a distinctive style, seemingly uncorrupted by the influence of electronic music fads or trends, he produces a soft, flavorful range of dance music which never fails to lift the spirits and has engendered a consistent stream of support from the underground world. Carefully blending disco, house and chillout art forms into one cohesive strand he is a producer undoubtedly on the rise. Having recently released his debut album Sunday on the venerated Omena Records, we caught up with the Swede ahead of his much feted performance at Boxed Off Festival (Meath, Ireland) on September 19th for a rare interview with a man who retains an element of mystery for many electronic music fans.
We were immediately drawn to chatter about his new LP which is a diverse outing incorporating everything from leftfield to disco. Slightly different from his usual club orientated weapons like ‘For The Very First Time’ and ‘No’, HNNY explained that the album came relatively out of the blue, a happy accident of sorts -“I didn’t plan to make an album but I made one of the tracks called Cheer Up My Brother and when I made that I kinda felt like this is something. The way I made that track I wanted to explore that technique. Then I just started making more songs and pretty soon I thought yeh this could be an album”. The Swede clearly puts a lot of faith in his own creative process, not allowing himself to be weighed down by the expectations of an often limited industry. He knows that a successful dance album is somewhat of a rarity for an artist these days “There are a few good house albums, or techno –uptempo things but a lot of the time when I listen to a whole album I prefer something a bit more dynamic with different tempos maybe a bit more relaxed kind of sound”.
“You get tired of making four on the floor”
Those who haven’t heard it yet will see Sunday as a departure from his ‘regular’ sound (we were given a lovely reminder of The Avalanches amongst others) but HNNY doesn’t seem to have been worried about that in the slightest “I just wanted to make some music like that because the last couple of years before the album I had been making mostly 4 on the floor dance music in different kinds of ways”. He seems to have reveled in the fact that he had complete freedom to create whatever took his fancy “ it was fun to explore other things and kind of moods and also not to think about a dance floor or a club when I made the music”. From the blissed out soul intro that is the album’s title track Sunday to more upbeat drivers like There Is No One Else and My Bady it’s clear HNNY has managed to create an album true to his intentions, a record that shows off his diverse production talents like never before. This is a man who clearly revels in the process, making the music, manipulating the sounds to work in his favour, the end product for him doesn’t carry quite as much weight.
Although he has been running his own imprint Yummy Records for a number of years the producer made the call to go with the well respected Omena Records for the full release citing Tobias ‘Tooli’ Lidstrom (who we’ve interviewed on WWD previously) as a trusted confidante and someone he knew would ensure a seamless working relationship. For an artist like HNNY its clear that his artisitic freedom is always placed high on the priority list “One of the few people I felt like I could trust releasing it and someone I knew he wouldn’t have any objections on what it would sound like or be like oh you should have a Single or you should change this or anything like that was Tobias so it just felt kinda safe releasing it there”. HNNY seems to have a healthy awareness of the fact that it would have been an altogether different process if he had opted to go with a bigger label “I think especially like bigger labels they always want to put their thoughts in and it’s not a good thing a lot of the time I think” and seems happy despite the potential tradeoff in exposure from such a move.
As the conversation continued we broached the subject of his touring schedule (HNNY has just finished a brief period of time off) “I started playing a little bit before the summer, I’m just trying to play less than I did before, at least for a while now” alluding to the fact that it was actually when he got three weeks off last year that he managed to finish the album and that a taxing touring schedule is counter productive for his studio endevours. “It was really nice because then you can really get into it, it takes a few days to get into the mode and to make music and be creative I guess”. It’s clear that HNNY is constantly trying to achieve the complicated balance between performing on the worldwide stage and ensuring his productions reach the high levels he has set for himself. It’s seems that this Autumn however he is set to once more step outside his homeland and begin to test out his new music.
“If it’s at like 2,3,4 at night that’s the time when you’re super pumped, you wanna hear bangers, and I don’t really make or play that music either”.
Armed with a host of new productions as well as a renewed vigor and a fresh mentality he’s ready to get back into the touring with Ireland one of the first stops on his list. His return to the Emerald Isle (he has previously visited the Twisted Pepper – RIP) comes as part of a tantalizing lineup at Boxed Off but, as his music is of a more laid back nature I quizzed him on how he will approach his set at the festival and how it fits into the overall hierarchy of a big event; “I think its not very big the music I make so its harder in a way but lately I’ve been thinking more about the time of day, I think my music works better a little earlier or super late”. For those attending in Fairyhouse this will be music to their ears, safe in the knowledge that alongside the thumping techno, there will be a groove artist bringing a much needed diversity to proceedings.
Our conversation closed with a hint of yet another new project from HNNY this time more “a mixtape kind of thing… a collection of different beats and stuff like that and just some strange sounds, it’s all mixed together kinda like a hip hop album” which HNNY plans to release with the Studio Barnhus crew who he is close with, further affirmation that the coming few months will undoubtedly see another big step up from an intelligent artist with a seemingly endless supply of delightful productions. If you haven’t already seen this man in action, this September might be the perfect introduction.
HNNY’s new album Sunday is now available on iTunes and Spotify
You can catch him Sept 19th at Boxed Off Festival