After a successful year which has seen them release their self-titled debut EP, followed soon after by another release composed entirely of five remixes of its title track, London duo Dust In The Sunlight return to see out 2020 with a surprisingly tender cover of the Strokes’ classic 2001 single, Hard to Explain. Looking at it on paper, anybody familiar with the pair’s stellar debut might be forgiven for thinking it an odd choice. However; immediately after pressing play it makes perfect sense.
Gone are Fabrizio Moretti’s trademark claustrophobic drums, and in their place a more languid, skittering beat holds everything together. Around this, the frenetic and tightly-wound guitars of Hammond Jr. and Valensi have been jettisoned in favour of hazy finger picked acoustic guitars and a luxurious blanket of Bon Iver-esque horns.
There’s no two ways about it either: it’s these shimmering, undulating layers that are the star of the show, and contribute so much to revealing a depth and vulnerability that you’d never have guessed was buried in the song.
Listening for the umpteenth time, it strikes me that Dust In The Sunlight are one of those rarefied finds for whom terms like luxurious, magnificent, and sublime can sometimes seem somewhat inadequate. There’s a chemistry between Annie Rew Shaw and Billy Wright that feels entirely natural, and the way that they trade off lines in the chorus here is a thing of wonder. It’s not just the blend of their harmonies, or the respective tone of each, but rather the way that they dance around each other so effortlessly that impresses. I’m not one for fate, but one can’t help but feel that their somewhat serendipitous meeting does have something of the written-in-the-stars about it. Most tantalising of all is the direction in which these two seem to be heading.
A conversation with Dust In The Sunlight
I was really impressed when I first heard the Dust In The Sunlight EP. Had I caught it a bit earlier I no doubt would have covered them on the blog a lot sooner, but alas it was not to be, and it wasn’t until they released (the ace) The Big Pink remix of the title track in late-August that I featured them in a writeup. Anyway, since then I’ve been keen to send the pair a few questions touching on both of the EPs, songwriting, recording, favourite records, and what the future looks like for the band. So I was genuinely stoked to receive an email out of nowhere with a link to, of all things, a Strokes cover (honestly, I’ve never heard one before) and so I had to reach out. So here we are. As ever, my questions are in bold and Annie and Billy’s responses in plain text.
• 2020 has been a busy year for you two, with the Dust In The Sunlight EP, the remixes, and now the new single. How has it been for you. I mean, in terms of where you wanted to be going into 2021, did the EP go down how you thought it would?
Annie: It’s actually been a pretty good year for us as a band! Obviously the pandemic and other world events have been quite unsettling and have had a huge impact on our industry, but we’re really grateful to have been able to release new music this year to get things going.
Billy: I’ve looked back at many points during the year and felt grateful that we met the label (Project Melody Music) when we did. Having them in our corner has made a big difference for us. This year has definitely had its challenges, I think not gigging after March has felt very at odds with releasing new music. It’s been good to see the EP connect with people without any live performances of it (virtual gigs don’t count!)
• I was really blown away by the EP. The songwriting was great, and I’ve been curious as to how it works for the both of you. For example, do you sit together and bounce ideas back and forth, or do you work separately to begin with and then piece things together?
Billy: Thank you! Our process has developed since we first wrote together – which was on the first afternoon we actually met. Usually we just sit down and write with an acoustic and keys, whether it’s based on a riff or melody, or a sentence one of us has. During Lockdown 1, we both really got into Ableton and that has had an influence on the writing sessions since – so we’re able to get the song to a much more advanced point before we get a producer involved. It’s important to us as songwriters that the songs can stand alone, as stripped back versions.
Annie: Thanks Adam, glad you enjoyed it! The first EP was very much us getting used to working together – harmonising our voices, trying out different chord progressions / rhythmic ideas, and exchanging stories through our lyrics. That process has now grown and developed into a fairly effortless synergy where we know each other’s strengths and pretty much always agree on where we want the songs to go.
• Billy, Being from Southend, I was used to seeing your name around and about quite a bit through various projects you were involved in. I remember there was a huge banner for one of your old bands stuck high up on the side of a building in Hadleigh forever… well, until the building got torn down and rebuilt as luxury flats. Seems they literally had to take the building down to remove it. Obviously you’ve got a lot of experience of writing, performing, releasing music over a number of years. I was wondering about how you feel you’ve developed as a writer/musician in, say, the last ten years? And Annie, likewise, what were you doing before this project, and how do you feel your work has changed through the years?
Billy: Oh yes! I remember that Redtrack poster. It was there for years – as the band was too. It’s been a strange but necessary journey, if I’m honest. Redtrack shone very bright for a brief moment around 2010, and for a while, I believed our hype. Which ultimately led to a very humbling few years following our split. But I now know how vital that was. Listening to praise can be just as damaging as listening to criticism. You should ultimately create things that YOU want to exist, not based on what other people have told you is good or bad. I think that since Redtrack, throughout various projects, I’ve been trying to find the sound that Annie and I have. And this immediately felt the most cognisant music I’d written in years. You don’t find that often.
Annie: Since moving to London in 2013, I’ve been involved in all sorts of projects. Performing with people like Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Rumour Cubes and Lyla Foy gave me some great live experience, and I’ve loved writing and collaborating with my other bands Munro Fox and Stella Martyr. Running my solo project Austel has also taught me a lot. Being involved in so many bands has allowed me to flex my different musical muscles and explore the many styles I enjoy.
When I met Billy back in 2017, I think we recognised each others’ musical experience, and how combining our knowledge would prove to be really valuable. I’d never really written with anyone else before – it was always something I’d felt was a private thing – but working with him has really helped develop my songwriting and the way I think about music. I’d say this project has definitely given each of us a new lease of life!
• How did the remix EP come about, and do you think it’s going to feed into where you go next?
Annie: We had reached out to a few producers to ask if they’d like to do a remix… what we didn’t expect was so many of them to come back with absolutely incredible tracks. It was impossible to choose just one to release, so we decided to put it out as an EP.
Billy: One of our favourite remixes was by our label mate – Tom Donovan (Monster Florence). We’ve actually gone on to record ‘Hard To Explain’ and some more of our own tracks with him. We knew him previously, but after hearing the direction that he took ‘Dust In The Sunlight’ in, we knew we wanted to go further down that particular road, sonically.
• Can you tell me a bit about Hard to Explain? It’s a really great reimagining of the track, and you’ve kind of unlocked something emotionally that didn’t really seem to be there before – at least on surface level. It seems like an inspired decision, but not a song I think anybody who’d heard your work would necessarily have seen coming. How did it come about?
Billy: I constantly had BBC 6 Music on during Lockdown 1 and one of the DJ’s played it randomly and I remember thinking “this is just such a well written song”. There is such a narrative to it, all the while it rockets along at 1000mph. Julian Casablancas is so good at doing that. I ran upstairs and immediately started working out the chords and then started recording the acoustic guitar part. It consumed that weekend entirely. And a few weeks later I played it to Annie and we decided to show it to the label.
Annie: Billy sent me the demo during the first lockdown and I loved his version – it was a great interpretation of the original. Further down the line, we decided to team up with Tom Donovan and musicians Jonny Poole, Will Heaton and Cam Morrell to build up the production and add layers of gorgeous Bon Iver-style horns, real drums and tons of vocal harmonies. I think it’s going to be a really nice stepping stone between the first EP and where we’re going next.
• You mention artists like Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens, and Joni Mitchell as influences – all of which are evident in what you do to some extent – but I was wondering which two records the two of you would choose as being the most important to you personally… and why?
Annie: Ah, such a hard question! I’d say specifically regarding ones that have directly influenced Dust In The Sunlight, mine would be Carrie and Lowell – Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver – Bon Iver. The latter has probably been one of the most influential albums of all time for me.
Billy: Ah what a good question! Mine would be ‘From A Basement On A Hill’ by Elliott Smith, and ‘Illinois’ by Sufjan. I remember first hearing “King’s Crossing” by Elliott Smith and there is a part when he sings “Give me one good reason not to do it” and his girlfriend and other friend “Because we love you”. This was actually added to the record after his death. And just knowing gives the song this whole other depth for me.
• What’s next for Dust In The Sunlight. Can we expect another EP or the debut album in 2021?
Annie: We’re working with a brilliant team of producers and musicians on plenty of new material, so watch this space!
You can find Dust In The Sunlight on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
I stood up & I said yeah 
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