‘EXPERIMENTING IN SOUND’ – An interview with jazz-infused hip hop producer HART

On Sat 24th June, Bangor-based musician HART plays live alongside Donegal Social Club and Touch Sensitive Records in Bullitt Courtyard. Our resident DJ and booker Jonny Carberry caught up with HART to discuss her travels, her strong DIY spirit, and the classic-meets-cosmic sounds on her recent album Moon Jazz.

HART, thank for you doing this interview and for playing Bullitt on 24th! You’re currently based in Bangor, but have lived in London, Sheffield and Sydney – is that right? Can you tell us how each of those locations has influenced the music you make as HART?

Thanks so much for having me, really looking forward to it! Yep that’s right and I’ve also lived in California with my Dad for 6 years and Newcastle for Uni. London is where I was born and where I was introduced to music through my Dad playing his vinyl, mainly The Beatles and Bowie. When I moved up to Sheffield, a city rich in music history, I fell in love with the indie scene as well as its bass culture – especially garage, bassline, niche and early dubstep. I learnt to produce when I lived in Sydney so that’s where I began experimenting with sound, creating mainly jazz-influenced hip hop instrumentals and experimental trip hop, as that’s the music that was inspiring me at the time. I’m now in a place where I’ve refined my sounds, experimenting between hip hop and garage. I’m a big believer in not pigeon-holing your sound, so I’m looking forward to exploring other genres too.

Jazz and blues samples feature on a number of tracks on your (brilliant) album Moon Jazz? How do you find samples? And can give us an insight into how the album came together?

The majority of samples have come from my vinyl collection, featuring jazz from the 20s-40s, as well as obscure samples lifted from retro films, documentaries and adverts. Moon Jazz was formed through curation of beats I’d been producing over 4 years, choosing the best ones to form the album. The heavy jazz influence combined with its leftfield energy determined the name and feel of the project – somewhere between classic jazz and cosmic sonics.

Moon Jazz received a glowing review in well-respected and very muso magazine The Wire, who called it a ‘consistent delight from beginning to end’. In a world of instant access to albums via streaming and the ability to self-promote through social media, how important do you think good print reviews are in 2023? What’s your relationship like with social media, as an artist?

Social media has always been a part of my life, as I studied marketing at Uni, and more recently, work within marketing. I think it’s an important tool to share music through, connect with listeners and spark music collaborations. It’s a double-edged sword, as I think it can be addictive, but there’s no denying it’s helped in sharing my music and connecting with other creatives.

I saw a video of you packing up and sending out vinyl copies of your record. And I know that you make your own visuals and videos for each song. Have you a strong DIY spirit?

The DIY spirit is strong for sure. I’m self-taught in Adobe Premiere purely because I wanted music videos but couldn’t afford to hire a videographer every time, so I did an online course to learn. I did the same with Photoshop for album artwork, with Moon Jazz being the one I’m most proud of creating. I now freelance these skills for other artists, whether it’s music videos or cover art, so it’s definitely paying off.

You also have another project called Nyphaea where you make UK garage music – tell us more about that. Do you DJ as well? What do you think of the clubbing side of nightlife in Northern Ireland? And would you like to see more female DJs out there doing it?

Sonically the music I have created under HART is distinctively jazz infused hip hop, and recently with producing UK garage I wanted there to be a sonic separation. Nyphaea is an alias I’ve adopted for UK garage, bassline and electronic dance music. I think it’s important to keep hip hop and garage separate because they are so polar. That being said, I have a 4 track EP coming out this summer called Baku, which is being supported by Help Musicians and pressed to vinyl. It’ll be coming out under HART, before Nyphaea stuff comes out. The EP consists of experimental ukg ranging from 2step to future garage.

I DJ often, but mainly at home or for radio, but it’s definitely something I’d like to do more of. I feel there’s a real sense of community in the nightlife scene here, a deep appreciation for the music which I think stems from the restrictive nightlife legislation. I’ve been to a few bass heavy nights recently which I felt was missing when I first moved here four years ago, so it’s been great to see more underground nights popping up, and the energy is unmatched which I love. I’d love to see more females djing and producing for sure, and would also be keen to run Ableton workshops for aspiring female producers too.

What are you into outside of music?

Other than working in marketing, I teach yoga regularly, after training in India in 2020. I run classes on the beach as well as co-hosting yoga retreats up in Coleraine with two girls I trained with in India. I also own a yoga mat business called Zen Bear, where I design unique and colourful yoga mats. I love being in nature too, I’m a tree hugger at heart.

What can we expect on the night at Bullitt? Looking forward!

I’ll be playing my own productions through my SP-404 sampler, so you’ll hear a few tracks off my first album, Moon Jazz, as well as beats I’ve produced in the last 6 months. All jazz heavy, some more obscure and off-beat than others. I might throw in a track I’ve produced with me singing on it, from an EP that’s yet to be released.