Douglas Dare

Since 2013, Douglas has blurred classical, chamber-pop, folk and avant-garde to dazzling effect, with a startling voice that can stop you in your tracks. It’s why he’s played with luminaries like Nils Frahm, Perfume Genius and Ólafur Arnalds, and was selected by David Lynch and The Cure’s Robert Smith for their respective cultural festivals in Manchester (MIF) and London (Meltdown). 

But Douglas’s fourth album, Omni, is a bold rebirth. Encouraged by Erased Tapes founder Robert Raths, he decided to step away from acoustic instruments, especially the piano he grew up playing, and swapped them for synths and drum machines. Label mate Daniel Brandt (of Brandt Brauer Frick) appears on production duties and the beat on ‘Mouth to Mouth’ is the handiwork of Rival Consoles. The exceptional ‘Teach Me’, meanwhile, was made with long standing collaborator and 4AD’s in-house producer, Fabian Prynn. Douglas’s vision was one of ecstasy and euphoria. “I wanted it to be f****** loud and immersive,” he explains. 

His new music has much in common with Arca and the late SOPHIE, two artists for whom self-expression meant liberation. “I got to hang out in the studio with her,” says Douglas of the latter musician, “the way she made music made a big impression on me.” And yet Omni is steeped in the kind of deft storytelling, sweeping strings, elegant contrasts and fairytale atmosphere that marks Douglas out as a crucial and singular voice. It’s not often you hear a strutting electro banger that could have been straight out of 90s Soho, with vocal loops inspired by US experimentalist Meredith Monk.