From Chicago, a lover of house music, but now stuck in the Circle City; comes the producer Ejion. At 18-years old Ejion began playing around with Ableton, in an attempt to produce Skrillex-like sounds. "Whenever you start producing you're not going to make it until you use the tools to the full extent." Ejion says as he then allows me to listen to his circa 2011 dubstep with a cringe across his face.
With industrial wubs long in his past now, Ejion continues on. In the past year Ejion has released an EP titled "Uncharted," a track on "Wrong Number" compilation album, as well as a Tool remix collaboration with a mysterious producer known as Dametea. He's managed to score gigs throughout Indianapolis as well as The Juggling Gypsy Cafe in North Carolina.
The latest from Ejion includes the release of his new single, "You Dream," releasing December 31.
What was your inspiration behind this track? It literally sounds like how a dream might feel.
Honestly, I heard the vocal and I really wanted to use it. And I wanted to make it sound like really big and epic to kind of mimic the "winter vibe" with the really long reverbs and choir sound, string sound. Like I said that vast epic vibe. I also used for the main bass... I used a sample I recorded from a Yahama CS60. I had recorded it back when I was in school, I sat in the studio for like four hours and just sat on the synths. Just played on them I was recording the whole time. I didn't want to miss anything cool!
This is house but it has a different feel, more basshouse to me. But do you think where you're from, Chicago is the home of house, has an influence on your style?
It's just coincidence. I'm from there (Chicago) but I wasn't in the scene when I was starting. I didn't know much about electronic music until I went to college.
Well, what do you think makes this track so different than anything else right now? Why should someone, whether it be a house fan or just EDM, why should they listen to this?
Because I created all the sounds in it, I manipulated the vocal sample, I used a synth patch to make the strings. There's not a lot of people doing melodic, when I try to make stuff I really like playing piano so chord progressions is one of the things I like to "go all out," in other words. Chord progressions and melodies are one of my favorite things, but I like dubstep and basshouse. It's almost like trance mixed with house, like the melodic elements of trance mixed with the hard hitting 4-on-the-floor of basshouse. Those pockets of no-drums are the trance element, just floating in limbo till the drums come back in.
For 2018, what are your plans? A tour approaching, another EP, what are we looking at?
Yeah, no tour yet. I'm probably just going to do singles. Try to do as many songs as I can, I guess that's the plan.
You can find Ejion at All The Way Up: NYE alongside Shxps, Ventura, Sweater Disco, Cam Miller and many more.
