Amidst a sea of rising stars, ANSOL has truly emerged at the forefront. Still in their early twenties, Aki Nair and Sebastian Sollerman already have an impressive track record and are on their way toward becoming one of the next great duos in EDM. Chart-topping collaborations with Dyro and Dzeko & Torres, releases on labels like Wall Recordings and Interscope Records, and a highly authentic sound have all garnered plenty of attention for ANSOL. Now looking toward the future, this talented overseas duo has a slew of new tracks on the horizon, along with big plans for 2013–it’s abundantly clear that these up-and-coming musicmakers have a lot more in store for us. I got the chance to talk with both Aki and Seb about their origins as a group, their production style, the collaborative process, and their plans for the coming year. Read on for the full interview.
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(Note: Some questions the duo answered together, others they answered separately. This is noted in the responses.)
Your EDM: For those who don’t know you, please tell us a little bit about yourselves.
ANSOL: Hello, we’re ANSOL! We’re a transatlantic duo from Vancouver, Canada and Oslo, Norway, and we like to make people dance.
Your EDM: Describe your musical background. What originally got you two interested in the world of house music?
Aki: I’ve been immersed in music all my life, and have had a passion for it ever since I was young. What really got me hooked was going to Europe and experiencing Ibiza with my brother and one of our best friends. The emotion, feeling and atmosphere was something that I needed to be a part of!
Seb: I also have been surrounded by music ever since I was little. I got my first copy of Fruity Loops, I think at the age of 15? From then on, production has really fascinated me and I’m constantly trying to better myself in the process!
Your EDM: I understand that you two hail from different parts of the world: Aki, you’re from Vancouver, and Sebastian is from Norway. How did you two meet originally, and what made you decide to start producing together?
ANSOL: The production world is quite small actually. Due to technology, many producers are able to collab with people from all across the world. We met through mutual friends and decided to work together after the success we released on our very first record we did together, which was “Blue Magic.”
ANSOL, Dyro – Top of the World (Original Mix)
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Top-Of-The-World-Original-Mix.mp3]
Your EDM: Describe your early creative process as a duo. What were the early days like producing together, and when did you create your first track?
ANSOL: There isn’t really a set formula. It’s whatever we’re really feeling at the moment. We both feed off of each other, and I think that the different styles we personally hold onto protrudes in the music and mends the ANSOL sound together quite well. We’re inspired by all different types of music, even little sounds we hear randomly. We try to be very creative and effective in our productions, if that makes sense. Like I said earlier, our first production together was “ANSOL – Blue Magic.” We chose the title Blue Magic because we both liked the movie, “American Gangster” and thought it was a cool name. It got supported by Tiesto amongst others right away. Our chemistry worked well together so we decided to continue and see where it would lead us.
Your EDM: You’ve crafted some pretty monumental tracks these last couple years. How would you best describe your production style, and what are some elements you try to include in your tracks?
ANSOL: We’re trying to establish the ANSOL brand to be a very versatile production. Not categorized as one sound or genre. We love all types of music, and enjoy making it all! If we’re in a mood to do something darker, we’ll do it. If we want to have something big room chords in our track for festivals, we’ll do that as well. We don’t want to put any boundaries on our production. Some key elements we like to also include are nice melodies and emotional breaks/builds. We feel that a track should be a story more or less, from the intro, breakdown, build, drop, or whatever arrangement one chooses. It should tell some kind of story, and the listener should be able to relate to it in some way or another.
ANSOL, Dzeko & Torres – Y3AH! (Original Mix)
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Y3AH-Original-Mix.mp3]
Your EDM: Seeing as how you two are from different parts of the world and must have had different musical influences, producing together must be a very dynamic process. Are there any differences between you two as far as which influences/techniques you prefer to utilize in the studio, or do you have the same tastes for the most part?
ANSOL: Our taste in music is quite similar, but also has its own “flavour” if you will. I (Aki) like the hard hitting, really energetic, or more “darker” stuff. I (Seb) really like the nice melodies, and try and really incorporate that “Swedish sound”. We feel that in the process of our productions, both styles are evident and mend together quite well, at least we hope.
Your EDM: You’ve done quite a few collaborations with some very notable artists, such as Dyro and Dzeko & Torres. How does the collaborative process go when you work with a fellow artist? Does one person handle the bass while another handles the percussion, or is it just a matter of what sounds right to both of you? Any new collabs coming up?
ANSOL: Yeah, we really like collaborating with other artists because it’s all a learning process. We learn from them, they learn from us. Constantly feeding off of each other. Every collaboration is different, it depends on where in the track you decide to collab, how you decide to collab, there’s just so many variables to take into account. BUT, when doing a collab, I think a big part of it is knowing each other’s strengths, and kind of basing the process off of that. In terms of upcoming collabs, we just finished one with our buddies Paris & Simo, and are finishing two up with Ken Loi. There’s a few others that are still in the works that we cannot say right now.
Priyanka Chopra feat. will.i.am – In My City (ANSOL Remix)
[audio https://www.youredm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/In-My-City-ANSOL-Remix.mp3]
Your EDM: You’ve released tracks on labels Spinnin’ Records and Wall Recordings, garnered support from the likes of Afrojack and Dada Life, and created chart-topping tracks–all in your early 20s. How does it feel to accomplish all this at such an early age?
ANSOL: First of all, we really feel privileged to be in the position that we’re now in! To have accomplished something like this just gives us tons of inspiration to aim higher and work harder to reach our goals. Our fans and supporters are one of the biggest inspirations to us. We want to make you all happy and dance!
Your EDM: Tell us about your most recent work. Any recent touring, and do you have any plans to tour in the future?
ANSOL: Actually we been locked up in the studio, working on new material for you guys! So there was not much touring for ANSOL in 2012, but that is about to change now. Lots of stuff in the works for 2013, unfortunately we can’t say anything about this yet, other than that we’re really excited and 2013 is hopefully going to be a great year!
Your EDM: Lastly, feel free to make any plugs/announcements to our readers.
ANSOL: We would just like to thank each and every one of you guys out there! Your support gives us tons of motivation to pump out new tracks, and hopefully we’ll play a club near you soon! You can follow our progress and stay up to date with giveaways and other cool things on our social media outlets:
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Thanks again to ANSOL for what was a very entertaining interview. Be sure to stay up to date with the duo through their social media accounts, as they have quite a few new releases on the horizon. Check out ANSOL’s tracks on Beatport. And as always, for the latest on previews, events, tracks, and commentary, keep it locked on Your EDM.
