News Mix #003: Tourist

The last twelve months for Brighton-based producer Will Philips aka. Tourist have consisted of a series of step-ups. Formerly gaining cult popularity under a ‘Little Loud’ moniker, Philips remixed the likes of Yeasayer and gained a great response. The next step was to develop an alias to push forward a sound that sings true on his debut EP under the Tourist tag. Drawn-out bursts of sunny electronica define the eponymous first work; some pieces rooted in trance, other steering towards the notorious ‘chillwave’ tag. Throughout, the listen is an invigorating one, albeit short enough to leave us craving a whole lot more.

DIY spoke to Will about his sensational first work, about the overwhelming response his early songs received and how he’s even jealous of his own music. As well as this, Tourist put together a First On Mix for DIY, following on from Wales pair Jewellers and London electronic artist Shells. Like the songs on his EP, Philips has selected an array of examples of glistening electronica, fully summing up the influences that assisted towards his own work.

A few days back you posted on your Facebook page, saying how amazed you were that the ‘Placid Acid’ track had racked up 1.6k plays. It’s now around the 30k mark. How does that feel?
It’s quite astonishing really, things have seemed to just escalate further and further. Not that that’s really ever a motivation for doing something creative, but a compliment it really is. I’m not usually a great judge of the tracks I write but I thought that people would like Placid Acid, and it’s rewarding to think that people get pleasure from listening to it.

Does everything feel like it’s moving pretty fast? I see you’ve just had your first radio airplay in San Francisco!
It really does! It’s a stark contrast to the somewhat insular year I’ve had creating the Tourist project. As much as things have been moving far quicker than they ever have for me, I’m really keen to remain focused on writing the next EP and formulating the live show. It’s weird to think that my music has visited San Francisco before I have. It makes me almost jealous of my own music, which is an emotion that no sane person should feel!

You built up a steady reputation remixing under the Little Loud name, how come you changed the name and are you going to continue to do remixes under the Tourist moniker?
Little Loud was more a remix project for me. I dabbled in writing some original material under that guise, but it never went much further than posting a couple of demos on blogs. As for changing the name, it was more for personal reasons - I was keen to start afresh for my original material. Any new remixes I’ll do will be under my new name. I’ve certainly pondered the idea of creating a 12” featuring the Little Loud remixes, something tangible for people to own. It would be nice to put a full stop after that project but we’ll see. I quite enjoy remixing, but ultimately original music is infinitely more rewarding hence why Tourist is where my energy is focused.

Could you tell us more about the EP? Does it have any running themes/sounds/ideas?
I remember someone once describing my music as “melancholic electronic love” - ha! I’m not quite sure what that means as I don’t really go for a particular theme, but I guess I really like the idea that people listen to the EP and ask “what is this!?”. I feel that it’s quite incidental that I use electronic instruments and sounds, I’ve just grown up around samplers and synthesizers really. I’m weirdly obsessed with field recording, I think that’s why my music tends to be swathed in everyday sounds. I’ve always been interested in the line between noise and music. I’ve also found that not using traditional vocals in music is a liberating challenge. I’m really interested in the visual side of music too, and I tend to think of my songs in quite visual terms.

What are your prevailing influences for the EP? Which electronic artists rub off on your sound the most, do you think?
I don’t really tend to listen to any one artist too much. I just enjoy music that has come from a truthful place in someone, and any artist that does that has my listen. I’ve always found the tag “electronic music” quite a woolly term, I think it’s a term that was used when people assumed that it was a fad. Or maybe not, I could be talking bullshit. I just think why categorize music based on whether the instrument requires a DC input or not.

Have the songs on the EP been around for some time or did you just spend a week or two in the studio coming up with them?
It was a few months work, it became obvious to me whilst writing the EP that it was important that the process should not be too drawn out. I think that was quite a successful decision to make and I think you can hear that the tracks were written at around the same time.

So what happens after this EP? Is the intention to bring out an album this year?
I’m currently writing the next EP. I think an album might be over ambitious for a launch this year. I’d rather two really solid EPs as opposed to a watered down album. That’s not to say that I won’t be working on an album this year. What also excites me is moving my music from my bedroom to the stage. I’m quite focused on visualising a live show at the moment.

Finally, thank you for doing this mix for us. Could you tell us more about it and why you chose these tracks?
It’s a pleasure, it was a very worthwhile distraction for me. You’ll also hear a few new tracks from me, see if you can spot them. These are just tracks that I love at the moment, enjoy!


Tourist will release his new EP on 12th March via Make Mine.