MacD on Music: Smoke & Dreams

This year has been a great one musically for the city. As well as having a summer of incredible gigs (see the many, many columns written on that topic over the past few months), this year has seen some of Derry’s finest releasing some brilliant music.

We’ve had debut singles from Cora Harkin (Glad I Got Away), The Marra (That’s Just The Way) and Rachel Craig (The Ghost of You) and, of course, the debut album from Parker (Never Let This Go. Go get it then come back and finish reading this. Don’t worry, I’ll wait).

This week, I’m talking to another of Derry’s finest, DJ Louise DaCosta, who will be releasing her album ‘Smoke & Dreams’ this Friday. Louise has been making music for over a decade now and has played gigs all over the world in that time (with a brief gap around the 2020 mark), including gigs in Europe, the Middle East and Asia and the closing slot at last year’s Stendhal Festival. As well as this, she is the founder of two record labels, DaCosta Records and DaCosta Rocks and scored top twenty hits in eight countries, including Sweden, Australia and Japan, along with two Irish number ones.

I caught up with Louise to talk about her album, the making of it and her plans for the future:

What have you been up to since our last chat?

Hey Domhnall, good to see you! I've been busy working away on my new album 'Smoke & Dreams' which I'm really excited to release on 29th September!

It's been previewed on BBC Radio1, RTE 2FM etc. so I’m just looking forward to finally getting it out there now! Also been keeping busy with radio shows, DaCosta Records, workshops etc. and also, the upcoming album launch party! Which by the way is Friday 29th September, 7pm at Void.

How does it feel to have your album coming out?

Aw very exciting! It's been something I've been planning to do for a while and I'm just buzzing to finally get it finished and released. It's a bit different to my usual dance releases, a lot more Chill Out and ethereal kind of vibes!

Tell me about the making of the album

It was a real pleasure to work on and something I really enjoyed doing.

'Smoke & Dreams' is an immersive album of ethereal electronic dreamscapes, ranging from bass lead tracks to arps, harps and electronica. It's a whole range of different sounds and styles and I've also sampled sounds from my environment as well, like cityscapes and the seaside, including sounds from Derry and Donegal. I've also included some traditional Irish instruments in tracks like 'Derry Lullaby'.

So, it's a whole mix of ideas and styles that are like little audio movies. 'Moon Song' has been previewed a lot on radio so far including BBC Radio One and RTE 2 and the response has been great! But there's 10 more tracks on the album, so I'm just looking forward to getting those out now too.

How do you feel about the end result?

I'm really happy to have completed it and excited to have the full album released! I have some accompanying visuals and videos as well which I'm buzzed to release as soon as the album is available! Looking forward to celebrating and having a glass of fizz with everyone at Void on the 29th!

Are you planning much gig-wise for the future?

The next event coming up is the official album launch party 29th September, 7pm at Void Derry and for upcoming live shows, label events and info please check us out on Insta/ Facebook/ Twitter @thelouisedacosta, @dacostarecords

Are there any other artists/DJs you think we should be keeping an eye on?

There's a great new track out from Derry's Emma White, called 'Beige Flag;’. Caothan from DaCosta Records, really excited to see some new music from him, check out his DCR release 'Beg Me'. 7 Daughters fronted by the fantastic Abby Oliviera. Further afield, Canadian artist Cozmic Cat, from DaCosta Records who we had over to Derry this year! She was brilliant at theTaphouse. Definitely one to watch!

And once again, that’s us for another week. Louise DaCosta’s album ‘Smoke & Dreams’ is out this Friday. As she mentioned above, find her on Facebook, the Social Media Site Formally Known as Twitter and Instagram @thelouisedacosta (Instagram) and @Louise_DaCosta (TSMSFKAT) and DaCosta Records @dacostarecords.