Taking a Breath with Desert Dwellers [Interview]

Photos provided by Desert Dwellers

Recently, Denver-based psychedelic and world fusion duo Desert Dwellers announced they would be releasing a trilogy of remix albums from their monumental Breath album, appropriately titled Breath Reimagined. In honor of the first volume dropping on January 24, we had the chance to chat with Treavor and Amani to learn about Breath Reimagined, goals for 2020 and what fans can expect within this new decade!

Festival Squad: We know that Breath Reimagined is going to be the first volume of a trilogy. What inspired you to create a Reimagined series?

Desert Dwellers: We’ve actually done a similar thing with all Desert Dwellers albums to date. There’s the two Re-Calibrated releases for the Downtemple Dub series, The Great Mystery album had two volumes of remixes, and now the ReImagined trilogy for Breath. The neat thing this time around is how vastly different the genres are on each release. We have the first one that’s more bass music oriented, ranging from the psybass/psychill styles to more glitch and Half Time realms. It also has a gorgeous modular ambient remix by Bluetech. The second release is re-imagined into slow BPM house and electronica styles, featuring artists like Coss & Iorie, Rapossa and Luca Bacchetti. The third and final one is uptempo, deep/progressive house versions by the likes of Djuma Soundsystem, D-Nox and Uone, to name a few. 

FS: There are several artists on this release who are new to the Desert Dwellers sound and have never remixed a track from you before. How did you decide who to reach out to for remixes on this album?

Desert Dwellers: Well, it’s always a bit tricky to make these decisions, but in general we approach producers who we are personally really enjoying at the moment. We also consider artists who’ve come to us expressing interest in remixing us. We also consider bringing on bigger name artists to help bring luster to the release. We have an initial idea of how many remixes we want, and we make our first wish list of artists and go from there based on who is available at that time.  

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FS: When creating new music together, have your creative processes changed at all within the years?

Desert Dwellers: We are both constantly studying the art of making music so we definitely continue to bring new tools into our studios. Due to the fact that we don’t live in the same state, we always make our tracks remotely. One of us starts something, sends it to the other to add to, and we go back and forth until the song is done. This has been our model of working together since we started collaborating 20 years ago. 

FS: What is a short-term goal that you’re each hoping to achieve in 2020, whether it be music-related or just in life?

Treavor: I’m working to establish my new record label called Dreaming Awake and finishing a lot of solo tracks I’ve been working on for some time.

Amani: I’m releasing a series of collaboration EPs under my side project Liquid Bloom on our label Desert Trax over the next 6 months.

FS: What can fans expect from you within the new decade?

Desert Dwellers: Well, one thing about us is that we are constantly being influenced by new music and the world around us. So really, musically it could go in many directions, hopefully mostly ones we can’t imagine yet! In the meantime though, we’ll keep touring with big plans for Europe this summer and South America for the Eclipse! 

FS: Thank you so much again for taking the time to talk to us! Before we leave, is there anything you’d like to add?

Desert Dwellers: We are forever grateful to have this opportunity and to have so much support from our devoted fans, to be able to do what we do, and to travel around the world sharing our music! We will keep on going as long as you all keep dancing with us! Live in love.

Breath Reimagined Vol. 1 will be officially released on January 24 via Desert Trax. Until then, you can keep up with Desert Dwellers on Facebook, SoundCloud, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

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