Tough love …
Producer, engineer, radio presenter, IJALE started the year with the release of a slamming call to arms, “321”. Together with artist and collaborator, Voldy, massive 808 basslines underpin “321” but IJALE rejects the beaten path of boom-bap, kick, snare monotony. Instead, he leans into complex Afro-Beat inspired polyrhythms that manage to hold two truths simultaneously: laid back, yet frenetic. Choose your own groove. Far from scripted or predictable the downtempo verse bleeds into a hypnotic chorus, ending with a rallying cry of “3-2-1 We shoot to the moon!”. IJALE’s output is as prolific as it is frenetic. Accolades include a best “Solo Artist” nomination for the 2022 Music Victoria Award, showcases at SXSW Sydney, sold-out headline shows in Melbourne, along with support slots for Winston Surfshirt and Kojey Radical. Further exposure through placements in A24’s critically acclaimed horror film Talk to Me, campaigns for sportswear giants Reebok and Champion, and a collaboration with Sydney’s BOY SODA, titled “LVL30.”, have seduced listeners with a unique blend of storytelling and complex, yet accessible, production. Radio presenter gigs at Triple J, across several shows, have furthered IJALE’s reach. As a producer, recent projects with Maina Doe and Mali Jo$e, have expanded his horizons, and his journey as an artist: to bridge the gap between music and culture. One the eve of his next release, an E.P. titled minutiae, I sat down with IJALE to discuss his music, creative process and his uncommon path from architecture to producer.
Melbourne born. Sydney raised. Nigerian soul. IJALE channels his rich life into complex, heartfelt tracks, both infectious and affective. His path to producer warrants exploration and explanation, “I started music a long time ago in a band when I was 18. We would play our favourite covers, Bloc Party, Fallout Boy, things like that. When it got to a little bit later in life, I started producing and I realised I could do it outside of being in a band.” IJALE continues, “After high school I studied architecture in Sydney, around 2010. I was introduced to a whole bunch of music from the people I was studying with. Different genres, like math rock and different types of electronica. And I really got into the… wild nature of the music. My world of influences was really blown apart by all of the people I was meeting. But, after finishing the degree I fell out of love with architecture and fell deeply in love with music. I could express myself in as many ways as I wanted and create from end to end. That’s when I really started putting a lot of myself into music.” After study, IJALE started work but the shoe just didn’t fit.
“Yeah, nothing really sparked interest for the longevity of architecture.”
In 2015 he returned to Melbourne and commenced studying Music Production at Collarts in Collingwood. IJALE reminisces, “I think when I first started studying there, we were one of the first intakes of audio production. The next year it changed to music production, which was more geared around having a holistic approach to DJing, live sound and production as well. I kinda felt like we were guinea pigs at that point, but all in all, I fell in love; being in the studio, acoustics, live recording…” For IJALE the studio became not just a place to create but a place to be. A home.
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Talk of studio life leads us to talk about tools of the trade. “I started on Cubase, but as soon as I found Ableton Live, I was like, yeah, this just feels like the one. I’ve been using it for maybe 12 years now. I think it was Ableton Live 8 that I started with.” The conversation continues, “Live has changed a lot in that time. Ableton has listened a lot to what people want, comments in the forums etc. I think it was version 11 when they added audio take lanes and I was like “Okay! There’s literally no reason for me to do things in Pro Tools”.
Far from an exploration of relationship dynamics, familial or romantic, his new single “Tough Love” is a biting indictment of the music industry and the art vs. content dilemma artists face today. A criticism of the machine that sees an artist’s labour funneled into the Spotify (et al) algorithm for next to no return, save for the Sheerans and Swifts of the world. The track opens with the line, “I ain’t here to give you what you’re used to. Imma give what you need. Sermon with a beat. This ain’t no content. F@ck your feed.” Shots fired!
The harmony and chords in “Tough Love” are evocative and complex, so I enquire further about IJALE’s musical palette, “I always find myself moving towards suspended chords. Very jazzy stuff. Using modes and things like that. I find it to be way more expressive than simple chords.”
“It’s like, you’ve got a vision and then you just keep searching until you find “the” sound.”
There’s a noticeable absence of snares and trap style hi-hat patterns in “Tough Love”, yet it has an undeniably rhythmic pulse. I ask IJALE how he approaches programming beats, “I like the complexity of Afrobeat rhythms. There’s a long lineage going back to tribal ceremony, Highlife music in the 50’s and artists like Fela Kuti and Tony Allen who really pioneered Afrobeat in the late 60s. Afrobeat always has a polyrhythm background, with percussion layered on top. The kick and the snare are really pared back though, so you get these two tempos, where, if you’re into it, you can express yourself in a more lively way, or just vibe. Like a head nod. Be casual with it.”
On a roll, IJALE continues, “That’s why I like Afrobeat a lot. I’m always interested in percussion. Adding rhythm to the in-between spaces but in “Tough Love”, it was a conscious decision to get away from standard beats. It was a reaction to working with labels and PR. For example, I’ll have a pronounced, maybe singular vision about structure, and they’ll try and enforce this, “You got to make sure the vocal comes in at least five seconds after the start, type thing”. I was like, “Actually, f@ck all of that!” So, suspending beats and the most catchy moments in the production was by design.” Reflecting further he adds, “I’ve always been trying to push that Afrocentric sound, and I realized that the “Afrocentric-ness” is just a part of my perspective. I don’t want to lean on it all the time, otherwise it just becomes something “generic”, so I use it as a backdrop.” Looking back, he continues, “I started out in production listening to Flying Lotus. There’s just so much swirling energy in everything he does. For a while, I’d throw everything at the wall and try and keep it all in there. Now, I try to picture how people would dance to my stuff, or other Afrocentric sounds, to make music that directs reactions. A lot of the moves that people do to those sounds can be embellished, but they can also be paired right back in a really cool manner.”
I ask about the incredible vocals that feature so prominently in his tracks and the production techniques involved, “I’ve got a 1073 preamp, 1176 and LA-3A clones (classic, hardware pieces) in my studio right now. That’s pretty much my set-and-forget vocal chain. Working with Voldy, and his love for vocal stacks, I came to understand the weight and excitement these give to the music. To get that sound, I’ll record Voldy, or my own vocals, then put these layers into a group track, pan the vocal tracks hard left and right and add some light EQ on each take. Low cuts. Nothing hectic. Then on the group bus, I’ll do the main sculpting to make these sit in the track.” When massaging basslines to fit a track, IJALE reaches for the Fuser plugin, by Mastering the Mix. He explains, “Fuser is like a type of spectral ducking, but with a sidechain so it ducks the frequencies, not just volume.” Solid.
The conversation concludes as we talk inspiration and intent, “Lyrically, I always come back to themes of belonging, and legacy is also a big one. I’m second-generation Nigerian, and my dad would always speak about wanting to build something when he came here. I think that passed along to me. This want to build something that I could leave behind and in that, explore different iterations of identity. With each song, I find myself thinking about a different part of myself or expressing something that I see in other people, then putting myself in their shoes.”
IJALE’s “Tough Love” was released by Hy-Lo Creative Studios on February 28th and can be streamed on Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer and Youtube. Keep up with him on Instagram at @ijaleofficial
