Xavier Dunn has established himself as one of Australia’s most exciting up-and-coming writers, performers, and producers, so naturally, we’re eager for his new EP "Isic Tutor" to come out in May! In anticipation of the release date being only a month away, we talked to Xavier about his experience so far, from his acoustic covers going viral, to chopping cabbage to get the perfect sound effect.
Dunn grew up in New South Wales completely surrounded by music, thanks to his musician parents and four musical brothers. “There was never a time in our lives where there wasn’t music,” said Dunn. Xavier began his musical career with the piano in primary school, and hasn’t stopped picking up new instruments and creating music since.
Many young kids would feel awkward going to school where their parents work, but not this Sydney-born musician. Dunn took full advantage of his music-teacher-parents, performing in both of their school bands. But what really made him fall in love with music was when he skewed away from his classical and big band sounds and learned Train’s “Drops of Jupitar” on piano. “That’s when I realized this could actually be fun,” said Dunn.
While performing in his school’s band, Xavier realised he wanted to try something more on his own. “I didn’t want to play the bass part of someone else’s song,” he said. “I wanted to create and play my own songs.” Realising that this dream wouldn’t be cheap after factoring in the time, space, and performers he would need, he decided that instead of giving up or waiting around to have all of these resources, he would just do it all on his own; an ambitious plan, but Xavier made it work.
From there, he created an EP of pop and hip hop songs with a completely new take on them. His EP "BIMYOU," which was released in 2016, featured Iggy Azalea's "Fancy," Kanye West's "Gold Digger," and others hits all played acoustically. Dunn was featured on Spotify’s Acoustic Covers playlist, and completely blew up from there. “I just loved making people think about the same concept but from another angel- giving them a new perception of something,” he said. Dunn said these covers were so much fun because of how “ridiculous” they are. “How often do you get to hear a soft voice sing songs like that?”
Dunn is excited to release his first EP of all originals on May 18th. The first single released that will appear on the EP is the title track, “Isic Tutor,” which was released earlier this year. Not only has Dunn written each song, he also plays every instrument and created every sound that you’ll hear on the EP. Dunn loves having complete control over his final sound and what he puts out. “It’s amazing. It’s my everything,” he said. “If something isn’t sounding good it’s not anyone else’s fault. It’s up to you to fix and change it, and I love having that challenge.”
The sounds put into this album are not all sounds that were traditionally recorded in a studio. Xavier likes to get creative and add every-day- and some more rare- sounds into his music. “I think of it this way,” Dunn explained, “if you can hear it in the natural world, it’s mine.” Dunn uses sounds from basic traffic and running water, to the sound of his ex-girlfriend cutting up cabbage over the sink. "It made a really great snare sound," said Dunn. He also plays with, what he calls, “less P.G.” sounds taken from porn samples. “It’s not as present to the point where you’ll notice it. I usually reverse the sounds or cut it up and use it like that. It just fills up the space. It’s like in a jazz band,” Dunn explained, “you don’t notice the bass player until he’s not playing, and you can tell something's missing."
Xavier says he’s “very keen for the next stuff;” the next stage of his music and his sound. He’s been working on these new songs for the past few years. The oldest song, “Warming,” which is already out on Spotify, was written 6 years ago about a girlfriend. Dunn said that as time goes on the song evolves and begins to have different meanings. “The feeling of whatever you’re writing about always changes, if you’re with someone else or if you’re by yourself,” said Dunn. "The songs can transcend and morph into new people and experiences.”
Dunn says we can expect a little bit of everything on the upcoming "Isic Tutor." He described the overall sound as “organic, electric, and bubbly.”
We can't wait to hear the finished product - a month to go!
-Toni-ann Mattera
