Although seemingly blowing up out of no where in the last 12 months Lido has actually been on the scene for years now, more so in his pop form in Norway before taking on a hybrid-jersey-club-cross-melodic stance that has seen him remix Alt-J, Flight Facilities and The Weeknd, as well as working with homegrown hero Alison Wonderland and releasing one of the best EPs of the year.

Before his appearance at the Xmas Weekender parties this weekend in Melbourne and Sydney alongside internet stars SOPHIE, QT, Nadus, UV Boi and more the humble production gun gave us the low down on his debut EP, just how good the Australian music scene is and just why the world is digging his beats so much.

SR: What or who inspired the I Love You EP?

 

L: The “I Love You EP” was really an experiment I had with taking all my favourite elements from my favourite genres and combining them without compromise. All the songs have very different stories: some started out as remixes, some started out as interludes for my earlier project’s live show etc. So it’s really just a collection of the songs that sparked the “Lido” project, which is really just an extreme version of me.

SR: You’ve worked with Alison Wonderland, are there any other Aussie producers you desire to work with? And why?

 

L: Already working with a bunch! I have worked with Wave Racer and Cosmo’s Midnight already. I’ve also been writing songs with Maribelle. I think Australia has an amazing scene right now and some of the most interesting electronic music right now is coming out of Australia.

SR: When working on music with others, can you explain the process of how you start a collaboration?

 

L:This varies a lot. Usually you look for something in common to establish a common ground. I like starting out by playing a bunch of music I like for the other part to figure out what triggers them. From there a lot of things can happen and we often end up finishing the started project over the internet by sending files back and forth.

SR: Peoples attention spans are shorter. I noted you quote in a recent interview that you “think the renaissance of albums is very close”. Is there an art to creating this form of release now?

 

L: The pendulum is always swinging and I think people demand more from the artists they listen to now than ever. For now it’s more about sharing their personal life with fans, but also there is a huge demand for new music constantly, and I think this has to escalate into a demand for larger bodies of work at some point. What an album is in 3 years though, I have no idea, but I love making albums so I’ll be doing that regardless

SR: Outside of Norway, where do you find you get the biggest reaction for your music? And why do you think?

 

L: I think the US, probably because of the heavy Gospel/RnB/Soul/Hip Hop-references in my music. But I’ve been surprised before, like the French love for RnB and how Aussies handle weird chords and rhythms with ease. So I’m really excited to start touring and get to play music for people from different parts of the world.

SR:  If we pretend to fast forward 10 years from now, what would you like to look back at as your desired achievements in music?

 

L: So many things, like I really want to score a movie. But most of all I’d wish to have a positive influence on popular music in terms of musicianship and musicality.

With tickets almost gone, be sure to nab yours before the Xmas Weekender kicks off this Friday in Melbourne and Saturday in Sydney.