Artists

My Gear: Foura

Foura is a Melbourne-based DJ and producer with a steezy and sweet style. Her music is energetic and emotional taking inspiration from a diverse range of styles from UK Garage, breakbeat, speed garage, house and techno. Foura can be seen and heard playing across many popular venues in Melbourne, she gave us some insight into her sound and what drives her output.

How would you describe your sound and how has it evolved?

I’m a person that feels a lot in life and I make music as an outlet to route those emotions. I would describe my music as “crying on the dance floor”, you know when you’re getting lost in the music on a dancefloor and a track comes on that pulls on your heartstrings and gets you in the feels— I love to make that kind of music. I also love to make stompy bass-heavy tracks that make people feel empowered or ignited. Most of my music is inspired by how I’ve felt in clubs when hearing certain tracks and I gravitate toward recreating those feelings and those moments in my music. Music has such a power to shape our experience so I really hone in on that. The longer I produce the more apparent this becomes in my work.

What do you find exciting about Australian music and the club scene right now?

I feel like underground dance music is having a huge moment right now in this country which is really inspiring to me. DJs and producers like Moktar, Surusinghe, Skin on Skin, Pretty Girl, Dameeeela, C Frim, DJ PGZ, Human Movement and the list just goes on, are all doing absolute bits and the world is seeing it — that’s exciting!

How does DJing inform your music production?

After 10 years of DJing and blending other people’s music, I have this intuition when it comes to production. Let’s say I have my drums down and I’m writing a melody, I can always hear multiple options of what to add next, I feel like that comes from mixing; constantly imagining what could come next.

How do you stay inspired in the studio?

When I first started making music, I would have really long writing sessions and burn myself out, only to come back the next day and hate everything I did. I’ve learnt to take frequent breaks, every hour thereabouts and give myself 30 minutes of rest to reset my ears, go for a walk outside or make a cup of tea. I’ve found I like what I’ve made more and am able to scrap things I don’t like before I’ve wasted too much time on them.

What piece of gear or software is essential to your sound?

I love Arturia’s Analog Lab, I use it every time I make music. I have ADHD so my brain goes a million miles an hour and I can lose patience quickly, so I need to sketch ideas down quickly. Most of the time I can find a preset that’s close to what’s in my head, it’s super quick to manipulate that sound with the parameters on there to make something unique which I love. My favourite synths on Analog Lab are the DX-7, Juno-6, ARP-2600 and Synthi.

Do you hoard gear, is there an emotional connection to music gear?

I don’t actually hoard gear, if I’m not using something, I’ll sell it fairly quickly, I like to work in a fairly minimal workspace with only what I’m making use of. For me, it’s a clean desk, a clean mind with more space for inspiration.

New single “Power” is out now through NVL Records