Dempsey Bolton Shares Passionate and Smooth New Track ‘What About You’
Prior to pouring his feelings about love and longing onto paper, Dempsey Bolton grew up with a passion for art in all forms. As a classical violinist at Suzuki Charter School, he began his love affair with music at the age of 5. After dabbling with writing, painting and learning saxophone, piano and guitar Dempsey enrolled in Honours in Astrophysics at the University of Alberta. After finishing his degree, instead of setting his sights on stars he started to take songwriting more seriously and began producing demo tracks in his home studio. Listening to the likes of Jack Garratt, Frank Ocean, James Vickery and Jordan Bratton, Dempsey honed his sound and found his voice in the ElectroSoul genre.
After reaching out to several producers in Toronto, Vancouver and his hometown Edmonton, he found current collaborator Trey Mills through friend and fellow artist Shay Esposito. Currently, Dempsey is working with Trey on his debut album Monochrome which deals with themes of love and the media, delving deep into how tv and movies create unrealistic expectations for romantic relationships.
Today, you can listen to the his new smooth single “What About You” and check out our conversation below!
What makes ‘What About You’ different from your past work?
Sonically, What About You is so much more sophisticated than anything I’ve made before. It’s my first release for a reason, I think we (Trey Mills and I) really nailed the production and the vibe of a track is always the most important thing to me. It also has a lot going on harmonically so, as a bit of a music nerd, that got me stoked about it too.
Can you describe the concept behind the making of the video?
We started with underlying themes of obsession, hypocrisy and addiction and eventually decided to build the video along those lines. The song itself is about holding a partner accountable after a breakup but that isn’t a fun place to be. The dark setting is indicative of the bad space I was in after said breakup and the constant rotation of the camera is symbolic of me spiraling out of control. We wanted all the lights and effects to make the video kind of disorienting and allow the viewer to relate to all those feelings.
How would you describe your artistic evolution throughout your career?
In a word, twisted. I grew up playing and listening exclusively to metal. By the time I started making my own music I was a full blown singer songwriter and all my songs featured me and an acoustic guitar and that was it. It wasn’t until one of my best friends played me “Weathered” by Jack Garratt that I even knew electronic music existed. After that I couldn’t get enough and fell in love with R&B and anything that blended soul with synth.
What’s been the biggest change in your life over the past year?
I finally got out of school after 7 years and now I’m an artist full time. It’s a lot of internal motivation and I don’t know if I’ve ever dealt with more rejection in such a short span of time but that’s the life of a musician. I wouldn’t have it any other way, I’m loving everything that’s happening right now. I’m just trying to soak it all in.
What song by another artist do you wish you had written?
If we’re talking about writing then it has to be Tourist by Quinn XCII. That dude is the best lyricist I’ve ever come across and Tourist is this wonderful combination of dark and bouncy, it gets me every time. If we’re talking vibe then it’s Frank by Jordan Bratton. The mood, the samples, the energy is all so urgent. It feels tragic in a way and I’m always drawn to art like that.
Tweet
