Dancing Astronaut presents The Radar: Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman
At the unfolding of any given year, the elements at bay in Stockholm come in unforgiving and consistent extremes. The same can be said of Swedish newcomers turned hotly anticipated studio duo Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman. If the name rings unfamiliar to you, don’t feel too bad. You may have just been looking to the present rather than the future.
That isn’t to say their past has not proven accomplished. They joined the ranks of Size Records, remixed “People of the Night,” released stunning vocal original “Silver Sun” for Sony and stormed the likes of Ibiza and their native festival circuit with a melodic big room demeanour of the highest caliber. With an expertly formed game plan unfolding and a sense of confidence that has made evading the market’s norm tactics look fun, the duo needs little lecturing on industrious planning for the juxtaposing age of beautiful exposure and mass saturation of electronic dance music. Wyman admits: “We’ve learned that you need to be really honest and critical of your work and evaluate if it’s on the level it should be. Hard work will always take you somewhere.With a rare focus on quality over quantity less often found within the modern market, their strikes to date have been liberally spread. As labels continue to attempt to fill the void left by an undeniable shift in shelf life for digital music, Vangelis and Wyman admit theirs is a labour of love, not tour fodder and emotionless music. “It is pretty sad to see how people rush these things,” admits Vangelis. “If you don’t get that emotional draw or connection then you pretty much have zombie music. Our process is simple: we take a couple weeks or maybe months to see if it still feels good. Many of our songs have failed that test. From there we either work out what’s wrong with it or start fresh. It’s a long process but it means we feel pride in all the music we make.
If that’s business as usual for Generation-Y, this is a Swedish duo culturally refined. That isn’t to say they haven’t found hilarity in the current industry norm. “There seems to be this urgency to drop 25 tracks or remixes a year in dance music and then focus on the live hype,” laughs Dimitri. “When has that ever been a solid model in any other side of music?”In turn, a little hype has proven a solid part of the puzzle for Vangelis & Wyman. Paved through numerous IDs and strategic support from Angello through his own festival sets, the duo’s original debut ‘Rebel’ alongside An21 was the elephant in the closet months before its release dare. Admitting that the track was a meaningful one for all three artists, the wait was just as intense for those behind the throttle of Size’s return to the big room sound for 2014. “Rebel was all about attitude,” he explains. “We had a vision for making a track with punch, but at the same time we didn’t want to make something that sounded like everything else. It wasn’t so much about breaking the comfort zones as it was redefining them. The fact it was on everyone’s lips so far ahead of release really echoed our own excitement for the track.
From Steve Angello’s Tomorrowland set to the tip of the industry’s tongue, “Payback” alongside the Size head honcho himself looks sure to be the most powerful bullet in an otherwise staggered round from the Stockholm outfit. “This is going to be a special one. The name says it all,” laughs Vangelis. “That track is about the people that believed in us, as well as those that didn’t. The amount of love we’ve had for it even at unreleased stage is absolutely humbling. It’s been a long time coming, but when it finally drops we know it will be worth the wait.”
A sense of patience pervades the duo, one that has seemingly grounded the duo to this quality stance on an otherwise clumsily forming age of electronic advocacy. “There can be no short cuts,” explains Wyman. “Sometimes the most testing and stressful routes make for the most rewarding results. Whether it is business or music, it takes time to build a legacy. In our case, we want a nice catalogue of music, not an easy ride.”
Past the aforementioned high-hitting collab and the BBC-premiered “Zonk” the duo points to a firm focus on making music for 2014. Selective or bunched concentration is yet to be known, but with a final vow from Vangelis that “He won’t be taking any holidays soon,” this is a duo whose thirst for success looks only to be dwarfed by an appetite to bring quality and cohesion back to the same table and romance them with melodic big room form.
More Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman:
An21, Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman – Rebels (Original Mix)
Steve Angello kicks off BBC One ‘Residency’ show with Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman
Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman Feat. Anna Yvette – Silver Sun (Original Mix)
An21 & Max Vangelis VS Tiësto – People of the NIght (Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman Remix)
Categories: Features