With an unbound curiosity and a deep interest in sound design, Queensyze’s music is subversive, visceral, and hypnotic. She experiments with records to create new sounds and rhythms, moving fluidly between the hard and subversive.
Originally from Toronto, Ontario, Queensyze’s bass and breakbeat sound was influenced by the city’s drum and bass scene. Since moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, she has focused on the moody, tough, and technically crafted 4×4 sounds which have come to characterize her musical output.
We spoke with Queensyze to discuss her latest release, ‘Release The Ghosts.’, delving into her creative process and gaining insight into the inspiration behind this exciting new project.
EG: Hi Queensyze! Welcome to EG. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us. How have you been? Where are you right now?
Queensyze: HI! Thanks so much for having me. I’m doing great! I’m in my studio at the moment, sipping on a hot coffee. Life’s feeling good.
EG: First of all, congratulations on the upcoming release of your ‘Release The Ghosts’ EP! What has the initial (promo) reception been like? Have you been able to test these ones live yet?
Queensyze: Thank you! I’m really excited for the EP to get out there. The promo reception has been very positive so far. It’s a bit different from my previous work. It’s a personal journey EP and the heaviest one I’ve produced yet so I was a bit apprehensive to get it out in the world. But I’m really happy with the reception so far. It’s received traction already, and I’m so thankful that people are willing to listen and give it a chance.
EG: So, what can your fans expect to find on ‘Release The Ghosts’? Is there an emotional trigger or concept to these tracks?
Queensyze: ‘Release The Ghosts’ is very personal for me, conceptually, it’s a three-track journey EP where I explore the themes of light and dark and my experience going through a long recovery from an injury. In all three tracks, there’s breaths between the hard beats, playing with lightness and darkness mixed with relentless aggressive energy. The EP starts with the heaviest title track ‘Release The Ghosts’, I wrote the lyrics for this one when I was in a very dark place in my life, I didn’t know how to get through, so I used my artistic voice to help guide me. The song is about pushing through the darkness releasing that energy to get through, the sounds embody the highs and lows of the journey. It’s one of the most aggressive tracks (and perhaps darkest) I’ve made, it has this huge screaming synth that bursts out from an introspective moment into a heavy warehouse track.
The second track ‘Eat Me Alive’ has this relentless percussion throughout with my pitched-down vocals that repeat “Eat me alive, they’re gonna eat me alive”. I’ve always wanted to produce a track that had repetitive percussion, I think they’re really fun to DJ, and I’m happy with how it turned out. ‘Days Go By’, is the third and last track on the EP, it’s lighter and has this airy nostalgic sound design break like an old jungle track. From the dreamy break it drops to a heavy warm 303 line. It’s about mortality and the time we waste in life.
So I guess people can expect a unique exploration of warehouse rave techno with heavy drums and introspective moments.
“I wrote the lyrics for this one when I was in a very dark place in my life, I didn’t know how to get through, so I used my artistic voice to help guide me”
EG: How would you describe the evolution of your sound since the release of 2019’s ‘The Pretty Lights’?
Queensyze: The Pretty Lights was my first techno EP that was released, it was also the first time I had an artist EP released on a large label and it was the first music I wrote that got played on a large techno stage. A track on the EP titled ‘All I Feel’, for example, showed up in a lot of different places from Ramon Tapia playing it on the Drumcode stage at Tomorrowland to people making videos with it as their soundtrack on TikTok. After ‘The Pretty Lights’ release I was in the middle of finalizing my next EP (which ended up being ‘Smells Like Aciid’) and then I had a freak accident that led to a long recovery. When I got back in 2022, I first finished the final touches on ‘Smells Like Aciid’ and it was released that summer. I was so happy when it received an incredible review on Resident Advisor, that made my year! I also finished up another EP that was in the works, ‘Stay Up With You’ that was released in winter 2022. Then I was finally ready to write again which became ‘Release The Ghosts’.
I think ‘The Pretty Lights’ was when my production came together, I feel like I really connected with my artistic self. And then ‘Smells Like Aciid’ was kind of an extension of that EP. ‘Release the Ghosts’ I feel like I’m again united with my authentic artistic self and so I think this EP comes full circle for me because I finally feel connected with my music again. Release the Ghosts is like my artistic self dancing on the grave of the last three years, finding a new path, my new strength.
Another evolution of my sound since ‘The Pretty Lights’ that is evident in ‘Release the Ghosts’ is the influence of my new surroundings. I moved out of the city from a 500-square foot condo in the middle of Vancouver to a house on an acre on a Southern Gulf Island called Saturna Island 30 nautical miles from Vancouver. I’ve always lived in a city so the change has affected me and my music in a surprising way. The effect of being around nature and exposed to the elements is that I’m producing harder and faster music than when I lived in the city, which you would think would be the opposite. You would think I would produce more chill music. But I think it’s enhanced my style in an unexpected way. I still juxtapose the quiet with the loud, the intimate with the hard but now it feels like it’s more extreme than before. The constant movement of nature is apparent in this release.
EG: By the way, Summer’s here. Do you have any plans in store aside from the music? How do you unplug during summertime?
Queensyze: Yes! I love summer, hot days, and warm summer night breezes, one of my favorite times of the year. I plan to swim in the ocean, go for bike rides, and enjoy the sun.
Photo Credit: Mood Berlin
EG: How do you keep entertained when not in the studio? Have you checked out any good movies, series, books, or albums you’d recommend?
Queensyze: I love listening to cinematic, ambient, dystopian soundscapes. Another entertainment is deer watching, chopping wood, and mowing the lawn with the fun lawn tractor.
EG: Can you share something about yourself with us that only a few people know about?
Queensyze: I used to ride horses and compete as a show jumper, I once was a Canadian Show Jumping Champion 🙂 Not many people know that I was a show jumper before I got into music.
“I still juxtapose the quiet with the loud, the intimate with the hard but now it feels like it’s more extreme than before. The constant movement of nature is apparent in this release”
EG: What’s next for Queensyze? What particular milestones are you looking forward to in 2023? Where can your fans catch you next?
Queensyze: I’m presently writing my next EP, I’m really excited about the tracks I’m writing at the moment, one track is about wind pressure, it’s pretty intense. And of course, I’m excited for Release The Ghosts to get out there!
EG: Thank you so much for your time, Queensyze! We wish you all the best for the future.
Queensyze: Thank you so much for having me on! I loved chatting with you, and I hope you have an awesome future too 🙂
Queensyze’s ‘Release The Ghosts’ is now available via Basse-cour. Grab your copy here.
Follow Queensyze: Website I Soundcloud | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
