In the Green Room: Alexander Flood
The next month will see Alexander Flood play Renew Adelaide’s Westbound festival, launch an album and play interstate. There’s no rest for this multi-hyphenate, genre-blind music sensation.
Image by: Will Hamilton-Coates
We’re excited to see you’re playing Westbound this March! For those who haven’t seen you live before, what should they expect?
I’d say my music treads a line somewhere between jazz and electronic dance music. We’re essentially re-interpreting club sounds through the lens of a band with live instrumentation. The music is grounded in house, broken beat, UK garage, and drum and bass but we like to keep things jazzy, spontaneous and improvised on stage.
What do you think an event like Westbound brings to Adelaide's creative community?
I think it’ll bring the west of the city alive. It’s a chance for people to experience some great local original music, art, design, workshops and food that may otherwise not be on their radar. I really like Renew’s vision of transforming spaces around Adelaide with events like this.
Who are you looking forward to seeing on the day?
I’m keen to check out the whole day, but especially Live Slug Reaction and Empty Threats!
You’ve developed an incredible sound that is singular to you. What sounds excite you?
I’m really interested in finding ways of organically combining disparate elements, styles and sounds in music, specifically layering electronic music with acoustic/live sounds. I think jazz and electronic music go so well together and there is so much crossover and room for exploration within that. Ultimately the goal is to create music that makes people want to move.
You’ve toured extensively throughout Europe. Tell us more about the music scenes there – particularly the jazz-adjacent scenes.
Europe is crazy! There’s music seven nights a week just about everywhere you go, and a lot of great supportive enthusiasm around jazz and creative original music. The big cities are so much closer together than in Aus, and with so many people in densely packed cities, there’s so much music, culture, nightlife, venues, festivals etc.
You’re also on the cusp of releasing your next album, ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM. What can you tell us about the record?
I wanted these tracks to be played by a DJ in a club and also enjoyed by a music connoisseur listening to vinyl on a nice system. It was all about finding a middle ground in the sound and style. Oscillate had more of a raw edge to it, which was a nice energy shift from my previous music. But with ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM, we went harder on dialling in the mix and post-production to lean into the electronic aesthetic more, while trying to still retain all of that live, raw, spontaneous energy.
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The live and jazz elements are particularly exciting for an album that reimagines classic dance music. Tell me more about developing this live edge.
The live element is the easy bit - we’re playing and recording the music live together in the studio the same way we’d play on stage. My band and I all come from jazz and improvised music backgrounds so the spontaneity and ‘jazz’ elements all come very organically.
What does this live element bring to your live shows?
The [live element] really separates the music from typical electronic dance music as there’s more human touch, feel and character. This keeps the music fresh and exciting when it comes to the live shows, as the performance can vary each night – you’ll never quite see or play the same show twice.
What song do you think will surprise people the most on the album?
The track ‘Cinnamon & Clove’ is a little bit of a change of pace from the rest of the album - it’s a downtempo vibey odd-time track, leaning more into spiritual-jazz territory. Don’t get me wrong, I love holding down 4-on-the-floor rhythms at dancefloor tempos, but when playing a full set it’s really refreshing to throw this one in the middle as a change of pace.
Tell me about the incredible musicians recruited to help make the record.
I really wanted to give everyone license to be themselves and inject their own sounds into the music, so I chose a team of people whose sounds I love and who I knew would nail the brief. The core band was Erica Tucceri on flute, Finn Rees on keys, Dylan Paul on bass, and Lewis Moody engineering and mixing to pull the best sounds out of everyone.
What was it like collaborating with Cazeaux OSLO who features on lead single, ‘Life Is A Rhythm’?
I had already written the entire arrangement with his voice and style in mind as I knew he’d be the perfect fit. I sent him the instrumental demo and within a few days he sent back the entire verse, hook and all, which he absolutely nailed. He has such an incredible flow, feel, and delivery!
Beyond your Westbound appearance and album launch at The Lab, what’s next for you musically in 2025?
We have a quick run of shows in April across Aus to launch the new album! Right after these shows, we’re back in the studio to record eight new tracks I’ve just finished writing, and then heading back over to Europe/UK mid-year to tour the album over there.
Alexander Flood plays Westbound on March 15 and will launch ARTIFACTUAL RHYTHM on April 4 at The Lab, ILA.
