Today we had the pleasure of catching up with Australia’s Luke Alessi as his remix for RÜFÜS DU SOL’s ‘Devotion’ releases alongside their full ‘Surrender Remixes’ LP.

Alessi’s ability to seamlessly blur the lines between house, electro, indie dance, afro, prog & techno has quickly gained him global recognition and garnered support from the likes of Dino Lenny, John Digweed, Magdalena, Black Coffee, Lee Burridge + more.

In the past year alone, Alessi has released on prominent labels such as Buttress Recordings, Thick As Thieves, Mobilee, and now RÜFÜS DU SOL’s own Rose Ave/Reprise and Warner Records.

We sat down with Luke to talk to him about the upcoming remix and what’s next for the producer to watch.

WWD: Hey Luke, thanks for joining us! Where are you currently and how’s your summer been so far?

I’m great, thank you! Well I’m in Melbourne Australia and it’s the middle of winter so it’s been pretty cold and wet but I’m still having a good time. This time of the year is great for settling into some serious studio time and preparing all my music for a big Australian summer :).

WWD: Can you tell us about your first memories of electronic music and how your career started?

My route into dance music started way back when I was younger growing up in a family that was always playing old disco and rock n roll throughout the house or at family functions which was “dance” music back then so I guess it has always been a part of my life. Some of my first memories of music in my life would be my Dad playing Michael Jackson, Elvis, Queen, ABBA, & Kiss in the car on long road trips. As the years progressed and I started to go out more my taste has obviously refined and helped me to develop an interest to make my own music.

WWD: Coming from Australia, how would you describe the electronic music scene there?

I would describe the music scene here now as extremely diverse. When I first got involved there were only a few places you could go to if you wanted to hear some decent (non pop) music, and they were usually pretty dank and dingy to say the least. Now there are countless events and festivals that host some of the best artists from around the world. Almost every weekend you can see a great new act whether it be international or local. I’ve been so impressed with the talent to come out of Australia and there are plenty more young guns on the rise, it’s so exciting!

WWD: You have a forthcoming remix of RÜFÜS DU SOL’s ‘Devotion’ off their upcoming ‘Surrender’ Remix LP, can you tell us about how you first connected with the band?

I’d say the first time I became connected with the band was via my remix of a track from ‘Lastlings – Deja Vu’ which was released on Rose Avenue. My friend and fellow artist Jordan Brando was actually asked initially to remix the song but he didn’t have the capacity at the time due to gigs and asked if I wanted to give it a crack and I was lucky enough for it to get approved. From there I was actually approached by my current manager Cam from ‘Team Leisurely’ who also works with RÜFÜS and was asked to join the team, which I’m forever grateful for.

WWD: How did the ‘Devotion’ remix come to be and what was your creative process? Does the remix embody a certain feeling or mood to you? Where do you imagine yourself playing it if you could pick any dance floor in the world?

It’s funny because when I first found out that I would be supporting RÜFÜS DU SOL on their Australian tour I was so hyped up on emotion that I decided I needed to go for a run to process it all. I thought it would be a good idea to listen to the entire Surrender album during the run and just as I was about 6 or 7km in ‘Devotion’ came on and it all just hit me at once. With the significance of the news I’d just been given that I’d be supporting these Australian icons, I started to get really emotional (and even shed a few tears while passing them off as sweat drops from my eyeballs to people walking by).

It quickly became my favorite track on the album and then a few months later they asked me to remix that very same track which just seemed to be so serendipitous. It turned out to be one of the fastest remixes I’d ever written. Everything felt so effortless and I sent the first draft off to the boys for feedback and they liked it pretty much straight away, slotted it straight into their DJ set to give it a test run in Tulum a few weeks later (which is probably one of the places I first imagined I’d love to play it), that and somewhere like ‘Rainbow Serpent Festival’ here in Australia which is probably my favorite festival in the world.

WWD: How does it feel when you see videos of the RÜFÜS guys playing out the remix?

It’s pretty mind blowing to be honest. I have to really sit back and appreciate the significance of the opportunity I’ve been given. To see an act who I’ve grown up admiring, acknowledging & supporting my craft isn’t something I take for granted. My friends and family might be pretty sick of me sending them the videos every time I see them play my music though, but I can’t help it haha.

WWD: You’ll be joining RÜFÜS DU SOL on the Australian leg of their upcoming tour-what are you most excited about?

Is ‘everything’ an ok answer? Haha. I’m excited for the full experience. It will be the biggest audience I’ve played to so far in my career (somewhere around 20,000 plus!) so that’s exciting. Hanging out with the guys, supporting John Hopkins also who I also greatly respect. It’s actually also going to be the first gig that my family will be attending. I’ve told them to wait for the right one and I think this might be it haha. So that will be a special moment for me.

WWD: We caught wind that you have an EP coming on Rose Ave. Anything you can share about that?

Yes, this ones super exciting for me also. I probably can’t reveal too much other than that the EP is my favorite to date. It’s more of a deep & funky, club-oriented release for Rose Avenue & the A side has already been getting some incredible reactions on the dancefloor both when RÜFÜS DU SOL have played it as well as myself. So stay tuned for that one.

WWD: What else is coming up for you? Any other future releases and shows we should have on our radar?

Besides the remix and EP release with Rose Avenue, I have some exciting collaboration projects I’m working on with a number of artists such as fellow Aussies Jordan Brando, Gumm and a few others I can’t reveal just yet. I’m yet to have a collab release so that’s definitely something I’m looking to dive further into and explore more in the near future.