Introducing Blair and his latest lush, indie-electro banger Oceans

Born and raised in Toronto before heading over to LA (where he's based today), indie-electro musician Blair is an emerging name we'd highly recommend you keep your eye on. His new single Oceans is packed full of that thrilling and festival-ready indie-electro flavour, with electrifying guitar lines and bass licks, uplifting vocals and an all-around energetic electronic charm all coming together in a short-yet-sweet burst of musical energy, which artists including Passion Pit, M83 and a whole load of others have similarly channeled into to fight their way to the top before him. Saying as he's still relatively new to the market (his SoundCloud is littered with only a few golden tracks), we sent through a couple of questions to the exciting new musician in order to get to know him and his sound, the perfect reading accompaniment whilst you dive into the electrifying burst of energy that is his latest single, Oceans.

Tell us about yourself?

I’m 25 years old. Born and raised in Toronto and I now live in Los Angeles. I love authenticity and I hate fake bullshit. That’s pretty much me.

What’s the vibe music-wise?

When I started Blair it was all about writing exactly what I wanted and not care about anything other than self-satisfaction. So far that has served me pretty well. I often get told that my music has an 80s vibe to it. I’m cool with that but it is kind of surprising to me because I never listened to 80s music growing up… maybe besides like Springsteen and New Order. It’s very hard to categorise your own music.

What are your production and writing processes like?

I have a studio in Hollywood that I work pretty much exclusively from. I usually start with a melody. Every morning when I wake up I write down all the shit that’s going on in my head and then I’ll pick through that later on and find that true gritty stuff that means something. So I guess my songs are written somewhere between my bed and the shower.

Once I have an idea that I think is worth spending time on, I’ll sit down with a guitar or on piano try to find the right chords to evoke the emotion I’m trying to convey. Then I hope on the drums and record a simple groove and pretty much just loop that as I flush out the rest of the tune. Honestly though, if anybody had one process that worked 100% of the time they would either be lying to you or they would be writing the same song over and over. Neither of which I any interest in. 

Can you tell us about your new track, Oceans?

Oceans is one of those tunes that didn’t happen in one day. I would say it’s probably been through about 30 versions. Sometimes songs come together on your first pass but sometimes you really have to battle to find the potential that you know is there in the raw idea. I could not be happier with how it turned out. This record wouldn’t have been what it is without my good friends Savoy - we worked together to really make the record feel organic.

What’s the rest of your year have in store?

I have a bunch of shows to announce for the fall and I think it is safe to say there may be an album coming ;)

Where can we find more of your music?

Just head over to SPOTIFY!