INTERVIEW: Dugong Jr Might Be ‘Polite’, But He’s Making Music For Himself

Dugong Jr. Photo supplied.

Naarm/Melbourne producer Dugong Jr recently released his new EP, Polite, and I was immediately drawn to the lush soundscapes spread across the project. I’ve always been a fan of Dugong Jr’s music, and I feel like this is a level-up in terms of the polished nature of the project, as well as the topics explored (more on that later).

I spoke to Dugong Jr about the project, as well as adopting a greyhound, which is super cute. Give the EP a listen below, and read on to learn more about the world of Dugong Jr, and why it’s so rewarding to make music for yourself, rather than others.

Ben Madden: Firstly, can you introduce yourself and your music?

Dugong Jr: Hi I’m Dylan / Dugong Jr from Melbourne Australia. I’ve been making experimental electronic music since 2015 and have been lucky enough to release music with some labels like Majestic Casual, Diplo’s Mad Decent, Moving Castle and more!

I wanted to ask about the new EP, Polite. It explores your Chinese/Malaysian background – can you tell me a bit more about how that filtered into the music when you were writing and recording?

A lot of the inspiration for the sonic palleted came from old martial arts movies and Chinese cinema, but obviously contrasted with more upbeat club inspired grooves around it. The theme is also continued in the art direction of the EP, and is a main feature throughout my collaborations with digital animator Nickeays who I worked closely with on this project.

The project also features a fair few collaborations – when you’re in the studio with different artists, how do you find yourself adapting your creative process?

Every voice is different and unique, so it’s important to treat that with the respect it deserves and take things out and change things in order to compliment that. Also just trying to get on the same wavelength before jumping into things is often very beneficial, so chatting about what the theme might be for the track, what kind of imagery your trying to conjure up and what the overall narrative of the EP/project is about. Clear communication and an understanding that change doesn’t always mean compromise are definitely key factors.

Putting together a project that directly references one’s background can feel very personal. How are you hoping people react to the project, and how are you feeling about putting it out there into the world?

I mean I hope people like it, but at the end of the day if I was making music to try and please as many people as I could I definitely wouldn’t be making experimental electronic music. It feels good to put out a project that feels 100% authentic and I can only hope it resonates with people.

Do you have a favourite song off Polite, and if so, why?

Maybe Geisha. It’s probably the most experimental one on the EP and was just a lot of fun to make.

I also wanted to ask about the NFTs you’ve created. We’ve seen a lot of big artists mint them, and there’s been a lot of chatter about the environmental impacts. As an independent artist, how do you view NFTs?

I’m all for them, obviously lol. There are huge benefits to artists being able to not only sell their art directly to collectors and consumers, but in blockchains ability to execute things like smart contracts. NFT’s are built on a platform called Ethereum, which in its current form the environmental impact is unsustainable (that’s not to say that the current government financial institutions are either btw), but ETH 2.0 is set to launch over the next 12 months which will make it 99.95% more environmentally friendly.

The crypto space is very interesting in terms of the opportunities it presents and all creatives, and it’s exciting that artists are one of the early adopters in the technology.

Finally, what are the next few steps for you, both personally and music-wise?

My partner and I just adopted a rescue greyhound called Choco, so I’m going to spend some time trying to be a good doggo Dad. Music-wise, I’ll be prepping for the Polite tour over the next couple of months where we’ll be debuting the live show for the first time, so I’m a little nervous but also super excited and thankful to be back out on the road after such a crazy 18 months.

You can follow Dugong Jr on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.