Delaunay & Khalvin [Interview]

Italian artists Delaunay and Khalvin combine their extensive forces for a new single via Freegrant Music. Featuring the vocals of Eva Sizar, 'Strangeness' lands with a straight forward club friendly approach and perfect amalgamation of progressive and melodic house. Progressive Astronaut caught up with the duo to learn more about the release of ‘Strangeness’, their background, nightlife in Italy, studio process, future plans, and more. Enjoy.

Hi Guys thanks for joining us. What is your current mood and what was the last piece of music you listened to?

Hello to everyone, is Khalvin talking. In this moment We are excited for the release and we hope that many will like the piece. We listen a lot of music and we have very different tastes. The last piece I listened to was a rock piece by Ghost - Year Zero , which goes a lot on tik tok and I think It will be very interesting for a techno edit. Instead Delaunay is listening a lot of Italian pop classics from the 70’s and He is listening dance pieces from the late 90s, but It hasn’t a last piece.

How has the start to the year been for you and what are your plans for the coming week?

This year started really good, better than expected! A lot of projects to develop. For the next week I don’t have important plans, curious about how things will do. Delaunay instead is very busy in studio in this period. He has a lot of side projects and works alongside a lot of artists.

Tell us about living in Italy, how has it influenced your music taste and direction? Or has it at all?

Living in Italy doesn’t influenced my music taste, our territory are focused on another musical taste, more groovy and tech! I listen to global music and I’m always oriented to the biggest European festivals.

If you were a tour-guide for nightlife in Italy, what would be the clubs you’d take the people to see and what local DJs do they need to hear? And to add to that, what have been your favourite venues to perform at in Italy and why?

I would suggest you Cirq, a very nice club in Venice, few years ago the line up was incredible. There are also a lot of small situations, parties or events that are interesting in the north of Italy.

If you are not DJing or socializing at clubs, where do we find you? And doing what?

I am a music nerd, Instagram, Spotify and Beatport basically. I do a lot of research every day. I need new music daily, and that’s why I produce music.

When you were first getting started in production did you have someone help you or are you completely self-taught? And what would you recommend new producers do to help with the learning curve of production?

I don’t have nobody help me, I start learning Ableton on Youtube after I do a lot of mistake and I understand how using Daw. It’s very different for Delaunay who studied at the Conservatoire in Castelfranco Veneto and before was playing as a dj in the main clubs of our zone. We suggest to new producer to start studying the music they listen to and the the technical part comes with time.

You have a new single ’Strangeness', out this week on Freegrant Music, tell us about the release, and how did you guys come together to collaborate on this project? And is this your first collaboration together?

This is an interesting question. We work together from years, and one day I went to Delaunay with a primordial version of Strangeness and he said “WOW, this could be strong!”. In that period he was working with Eva Sizar on other projects and he thought of involving him for Strangeness. Later our friends Airbas, Nick and Dany really loved our piece and they asked us to make their own versions. That’s the story.

Were you guys in the studio together or was it a matter of passing files back and forth? Please walk us through the production process on the track.

As I said before, I wrote the first idea of the piece, than we met and we start thinking about the arrangement and the lyrics. After that we recorded Eva Sizar at the Basement Studios in Vicenza, where Delaunay works, and Delaunay mixed and mastered the entire release.

A successful partnership is generally based on balance and compromise; how did you manage these things when you were working on ‘Strangeness'?

It was very easy, Delaunay has a lot of patient whit me and we understand each other well.

What does your set-up look like? Do you favor physical gear over digital? And what studio tools featured heavily in the writing of ‘Strangeness'?

I prefer working smart and fast with digital tools. Digital allows me to make changes quickly and to develop pieces in a short time. Delaunay always love going with acoustic instruments and this time he gave the piece the voice. In production He works half and half, because he loves playing with microphones and recording musicians. The studio where he works offers the best of technology that a studio could wish for.

Let’s talk about production a bit more for a moment, where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play? And was there anything that inspired ‘Strangeness’?

Making music for me is fundamental, I need it mainly for my mental health. The inspiration always comes from the new music I discover, for example, for Strangeness the inspiration was Ben Bohmer, all off Ben’s track. The lyrics was written by our friend Francesca Boz which probably took inspiration from his wanderings around the world, but I don’t know the real source in her mind.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practice? And who is someone you share your new music with first for feedback?

Fortunately we work as a team, we involve in production a lot of people and this allow us to be sure about the results. But this process require time, often a lot of time.

What is the task you enjoy the most when producing and what would you prefer someone else to do?

I love to write down ideas on Ableton, I love to find the elements the guide me on an new piece or the elements that make me dance. I prefer let Delaunay finalize pieces and tracks. He is a good producer but also a very good mixing engineer.

Now let’s talk about DJing for a moment, it’s a unique discipline at the border between presenting great music and creating something new with it, between composition and improvisation to an extent. How would you describe your approach to it?

I see djing as an artist act, where the structure is made by the pieces. It’s like thinking to a long long song where build-ups, drops or other parts are made with songs and not by single elements.

Can you tell me a bit about how your work as a DJ has influenced your view of music, your way of listening to tracks and perhaps also, your work as a producer?

If you think about Djing as an artist act, you will search music like searching instruments for a part or for a moment of the set. In this way Djing and live set can be mixed together and they can be seen as the same thing.

If you could set up an event with a line-up of five artists of your choice, who would you book and what set times would you ascribe to the artists?

I love playing alongside friends: so I will chose Airbas, Nick Gilles and Dany De Lonny, Delaunay… and If I had to choose someone else, I would choose Lost In Nirai who is working in studio with Delaunay, I love how he works.
I will treat the line-up as a party: yes my moment will be the peak time where I can play the strongest pieces, but there will be always time for a back2back.

Current top five tracks?

01 Lost In Nirai - Time Machine
02 Airbas - Hold
03 Khalvin feat LMNL - Moon
04 Montoya - Tatacoa (Delaunay Remix)
05 Khalvin - Heart

What’s a book you’ve read or film you watched that has left an impact on you, and why?

I like watch the Netflix’s series, in particular I love Chicago Party Aunt, but I really focused in music and i don’t have a lot of external influences.

What is one superpower you would like to have and how would you use it?

I think my musical hyper productivity it’s a super power. Delaunay hate me when i bring him to listen packages of twenty tracks.

Apart from music, what makes you happiest?

My world is made of what makes me happy and It is build by My Family, My beloved daughters, friends and rugby.

What does the remainder of 2023 hold for you? Anything you can share with us?

Well, I’m workin on new music that will be ready for the spring. I’m also preparing a new live set for spring and summer events. Hope to let you listen my sets soon.
Thank you guys
Khalvin

'Strangeness' is available now via Freegrant Music: https://bit.ly/3YU7irk