We caught up with DOOXS, two girls from Rotterdam, creating icy electronics with an ethereal atmosphere. Djoeke’s airy, light vocals drift on top of the dark synths, minimal beats and deep basses produced by Aniek (aka ANIK). Only around since 2015, they sat together and wrote their single ‘Nude’ in a single afternoon, then started gigging almost right away and have since already played at Eurosonic Noorderslag this year. Their music video was released in May and the upcoming EP will be released in October.
Hi there, how are you and what are you up to today?
As we're practically always together, today is no different. We're adjusting and tweaking our music together. Just to give you a picture, Aniek's home is a no-bedroom apartment, with almost nothing besides music equipment in it. We're drinking fancy teas and try on each others clothes in the process.
To those not familiar with you, how would you describe your sound?
We make kinda dark music, it's electronic and quite reverby. Beat-wise we're inspired by hip hop, r&b and some triphop things but also listen to a lot of techno and experimental music which shines through at times. We like it really bass-heavy! Our music follows quite poppy structures, with verses, pre-choruses and choruses. Then on top of this, the centrepiece, Djoeke's lush and dreamy melodies.
What are the 5 most influential albums that have influenced you the most?
There is so much music that influences us, and it is quite different for both of us. Some albums can inspire you to get into music in the first place, like Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works and Jon Hopkins - Immunity. Production wise we are really inspired by this.
Then there is music that is more like, hey, this is so cool, we want to do something like that as well. Which we really had with The Knife - Deep Cuts. Of course FKA Twigs - LP1 is a perfect example of a good combination of electronics with more pop-oriented vocals and her sensuality is just amazing, for some reason this just seems to resonate with us. It has similar, slower beats and vocals and both albums have great production in their own way. Howling - Sacred Ground for songwriting inspiration and also their amazing mix of electronics with singer songwriter music.
Then there is music that is more like, hey, this is so cool, we want to do something like that as well. Which we really had with The Knife - Deep Cuts. Of course FKA Twigs - LP1 is a perfect example of a good combination of electronics with more pop-oriented vocals and her sensuality is just amazing, for some reason this just seems to resonate with us. It has similar, slower beats and vocals and both albums have great production in their own way. Howling - Sacred Ground for songwriting inspiration and also their amazing mix of electronics with singer songwriter music.
Which other artists are you into at the moment and why?
Andy Stott is just great and we love tracks like Hatch The Plan and his most recent one Butterflies. We think Spooky Black's - Without You is some kind of blueprint for our style.
We listen a lot to artists like High Klassified, Nosaj Thing, Mono/Poly for beat inspiration, but then we listen to Howling, Moderat and the like more for the combination of electronics with songs and how they do it. Recently we discovered Samaris, they do really nice things with creating atmospheres with their vocals.
Are there any key pieces of equipment that you are using to define your sound?
Ableton is our baby, Aniek uses it a lot to resample Djoeke's vocals, reverse them and do all kinds of weird things to them, then push them to the back of the mix awash with reverb. We are also major fans of the Prophet V, from which we unfortunately cannot afford the hardware version, but we're using the softsynth a lot. Besides the 808-ish kicks we like to use weird percussion sounds in the background as well.
What would you say some of the challenges artists face today in the music industry?
Because internet has democratized the music industry, suddenly everyone is a producer, DJ or has an electronic act. This is great, there are so many good and talented people now having a chance, and there are no gatekeepers anymore. However, there are so many, it's so hard to stick out. Moreover, it seems that the people who are good at doing branding and marketing themselves get more success and that it is not always about the music. You have to be able to do everything yourself, promotion, marketing, music, production, songwriting, administration stuff etc. It's overwhelming sometimes.
Where do you gather songwriting inspiration?
The lyrics from the upcoming EP are not really based around stories but random thoughts on struggles that are autobiographic. It's often about vulnerability, sensuality, insecurity, anxiety and letting things go. Sometimes you can get inspired by one word or theme around which you can build a song.
Take us through your songwriting process. Are there any particular steps you take when put music together?
Initially Djoeke just wrote the lyrics and melody, and we would sit together to see where we could get it, building the track around it. However, we want to experiment more with doing things the other way around and are also aiming to write tracks that are more suitable for live performance.
What’s the best gig you have ever done and why?
We've played Eurosonic Noorderslag this year, which was really amazing because it was a huge opportunity for us as we're just starting out. However our most recent gig at De School, Amsterdam was really amazing as we really had the feeling that our music resonated with people in the audience which was a great feeling.
And the worst?
The worst we've ever done was for an employee event of a bank. We were hired to do a show in the evening, but were transferred to 9 in the morning which well, does not really suit our music... We felt greatly misplaced.
If you weren't a musician what would you be?
Considering the fact that we collected a significant amount of speeding fines on our way to gigs, we might consider a career as a racing driver duo.
Do you have any particular gigs or festivals that you dream about playing?
Sonar! We dream about going there, but playing there would be even more amazing. Inside the Netherlands we would love to play at Pitch Festival, we have been visiting every year and just love the inspiring vibe.
If you could perform alongside any other band or artist, who would it be?
Spooky Black, his I don't give a shit attitude is so cool.
Do you have any information regarding upcoming releases, projects or gigs in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?
We're planning to release our EP in October, preceded with a single in September. We can't wait to share it with the world.
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https://www.facebook.com/dooxsofficial/
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