Today the London-based duo Abc Dialect are premiering a new music video for their single “The Heat.”
Comprised of Tomás Susevich and Luca Oliva Knight, Abc Dialect formed in 2017 by two Argentinean friends that had recently moved to London from Argentina.
Together, the duo craft a sound that is influenced by both the new and the old. Borrowing sounds from legacy artists like Kool & The Gang, Daft Punk and newer acts like Parcels and The Whitest Boy Alive, the two deliver a smooth and relatable form of indie dance music somewhere between house, funk and rock. Abc Dialect’s music is recorded using live instrumentation which creates a natural and organic sounding approached to dance music.
Their latest single, “The Heat,” was released in the second half of 2018 on their 3-song self-titled EP.
It features smooth synthesizers a massively funky bass line and their signature vocal which both airy and refreshing.
Stream the music video for “The Heat” below and also scope the Q&A they did for Casablanca Sunset below. Enjoy!
Casablanca Sunset: How long have you two been working together?
Abc Dialect: We’ve been making music together since the beginning of 2017, right after we met. We were both eager to start a new project, different from what we have been doing before, but we weren’t exactly sure how we wanted it to sound like.
Tom is a great producer, and I was fascinated by the fact that he could make really good beats in no time. So I would lay down a couple of chords, or a bass line, and we’d usually start from there. After we had a nice beat I would come up with a vocal melody and that’s how it went down. We could make two or three songs a day and after a while we realized our workflow was great. We then had to carefully pick the best ideas we had, polish them and define the aesthetics we wanted for Abc Dialect.
CS: Very cool. You’re from Argentina and relocated to London. What sparked the move? How has it been relocating?
AD: I’ve been in London for five years now, I moved from Argentina when I was eighteen searching for new experiences related to music. Tom came to do a master’s degree in record production, so I guess you could say music was what brought us both to London.
Relocating is great, it opens up your mind and changes your perspective about things. We’re actually both moving to Barcelona this year to open a studio there.
CS: That’s awesome. What does your creative process look like when writing a song for Abc Dialect?
AD: It depends on the song.
When we did ‘The Heat’ Tom had this beat he was working on. He already had the chords and the bassline and he had programmed some drums as well. When I listened to it I came up with the vocal lines, so I did the melodies and lyrics for it.
After we had the complete demo we decided it needed some real instruments, so we basically started the song from scratch, we recorded drums with our friend David Davis (who happens to be the best drummer in the world) and we had our friend Benjamin play keyboards on a Yamaha DX7 (he’s also amazing), Tom played the guitar solo in the end and I did the rest of the guitars on the song and the vocals.
The process is always different, we even work online sometimes if we’re travelling, I write a song and send it to Tom and he adds guitars and synth leads or a bassline. We both produce and write songs, and we play a little bit of everything so it’s easier not to have fixed roles for each other.
CS: Who are some of your musical influences?
AD: Tom grew up listening to Daft Punk, Michael Jackson and Al Green, while I was listening to The Beatles and Stevie Wonder. We’re both big fans of Ryuichi Sakamoto and all the cool Japanese scene from the 70’s (YMO, Haruomi Hosono, etc).
We also love disco bands such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & The Gang and The Whispers. And more recent creations such as Jamiroquai, The Whitest Boy Alive, Toro y Moi and Neon Indian.
CS: Nice. How would you describe your music to someone that has never listened to it?
AD: Retrofuturistic. Funky. Upbeat. Electronic. Deep.
CS: Any upcoming plans for new music or shows in 2019?
AD: Well, yes! A second EP is coming out very very soon, probably next month. Then we will be working on our first album the rest of the winter at our new studio in Barcelona and hopefully record and produce it in Berlin with a very special (and admired) friend that used to be part of one of the bands that influenced us the most. So we’re pretty excited about that. Once that is done, plans go towards a tour around EU, maybe some summer festivals. and finally, once the album is out we might go to South America and the end of the year to play at some summer festivals there. Lots to come this year, it feels like we are finally ready to set off.
Thanks, guys! Look forward to hearing more from you down the road!