A. Whales
A. Whales’ newest release is a culmination of three years of frustration.
This sizeable release felt like “a soundtrack of failures”. But for all their perceived flaws, he kept returning to these songs - unable to progress, but slowly falling in love with the them in all their imperfections.
Uncurated and chronological, the music acts as a diary. The compulsion to create, and a need to express feelings through sound, is at the centre of A. Whales’ work. When taken as a whole, his collection of music tells a story of the past few years that many of us recognise, a gradual ascension out of a deep darkness.
Biography
A Whales grew up in Bristol, a city with a rich musical background. Inspired by the local hip hop scene and clubs, he makes mostly electronic music influenced by his love of UK dance music, house/downtempo/breaks/jungle.
Playing keys from a young age, he initially wanted to become a jazz pianist, but when he discovered the power of the computer as an instrument, he changed his tune.
He remembers the first time he made a beat, taking a James Brown song into audacity, cutting and passing the horn section and intermittently layering the bursts of the vocals - from that moment he devoted himself to music production.
While he worked with friends, local artists and made music for a decade, it was only in 2020 when he decided to start releasing work to the public, quickly receiving radio play from the BBC and positive encouragement from likeminded peers, he went on to release 2 singles and 3 EPs, and playing his first live electronic gig in early 2022.
Parallel to this he returned to education, receiving a masters degree in Innovation in Sound, developing audio visual installations that generate abstract visuals to music.
Previous press
and Radio play.
A. Whales has been featured three times on BBC introducing, and various internet radio stations including RADIO.D59B, Novorama; and has featured in an article on Thissongissick.com.
“A. Whales hits us with mellow instrumentation and soft, washed-out textures over a nice, quick four-to-the-floor rhythm. Muted synths sporadically fade in and out. The result is a relaxing yet invigorating vibe.”
