ATTLAS reworks ‘Out Here With You’ into continuous mix [Q&A]

In early November, ATTLAS surprised fans with his second album of the year, his calming and uplifting Out Here With You. Now, the mau5trap producer has given the LP a complete overhaul, transforming the original material into a continuous mix. Titled Out Here Together, the new mix is rearranged in a way that better reflects a cohesive storyline, loaded up with samples to assist the narrative. To accompany the mix, serial-collaborator Cyclo also crafted a continuous edit of his visuals, including ideas meant for eventual live-shows. Cyclo explained,

“To create this longer piece, I knew I wanted to keep all the visuals that we had made for the album but I also wanted to bring in some of the visuals I had built for the live show that me and [ATTLAS] had started planning. With him adding these breaks in the music with quotes, it was a great chance to bring in the plants behind rainy windows as moments of reflections. I very much approached this mix as a way to look back and reflect on the year, but also feel hope about what is coming next.”

Dancing Astronaut also caught up with ATTLAS to ask about what inspired the new mix, where the samples were pulled from, and what he hopes people take away from the mix. Find both the mix and the interview below.

What inspired you to rework Out Here With You into this new format? You’ve also put several new samples into Out Here Together. How do the additional samples help convey the story line you’ve structured here?

ATTLAS: “So the impetus for this project was simple enough from the get go—the label (mau5trap) wanted a continuous mix of the album. In most, if not all of my studio-constructed mixes, I try to incorporate scenes and characters and a narrative structure. They’re a loose narrative; however, they’re human enough that you’re drawn in with curiosity and empathy, but not so specific that they leave the listener unable to relate. The most elevated execution of these techniques and ambitions is my storyline series. No matter where I’m playing a set or what new music I’m releasing, the feedback always comes back to ‘when’s the next storyline?’

While this isn’t a storyline ‘technically,’ it’s in the spirit of it. As I started building the continuous mix for mau5trap, I quickly realized that the album order wasn’t necessarily the most conducive to the kind of mix I wanted to prepare. I started re-assembling the album order with tracks that were reproduced in new keys to better suit the continuous immersion I was striving for with the project. As the music side of the mix took shape, what began as a hunt for the perfect intro and outro narration turned into the deeper process of quote-sourcing and character building that typically happens as I build storyline.

The quotes themselves in this mix are deliberately about vulnerability and being able to open up to someone. The album itself was about that surrender in a year of unpredictability and letting myself appreciate the goodness that still persisted. Nevertheless, there has been an enormous toll taken on so much of our psyche, our souls, our hearts and our confidence. The mix opens with an invitation to talk and closes with seeking confidence in a friend. We’ve had to do that so much more this year. Being okay with weakness and vulnerability and being willing to open up that part of your messed up and confused heart and mind to another, and to do so in trust. The mix brings the album into a new place that’s about visual wonder and human connection. For whatever happens next, we’re out here together. For ourselves, for each other.”

Source: dancingastronaut.com

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