A seaside journey with Dumb Buoys Fishing Membership, alt-pop’s new dynamic duo


Dan Bartlett has obtained his eye on the prize. Because the boat programs by the English Channel, just a few miles out from Eastbourne harbour, the songwriter and producer is slowly lifting his fishing rod upwards, pointing it skyward. He exhales loudly, letting out an anxious sigh because the reel begins to hurry into reverse; 4 mackerel have put some main stress on the tip. “I can really feel a cheeky little tug from beneath the ocean…,” he exclaims, pulling his catch out of the water.

We’re an hour right into a deep sea fishing journey, one thing which Bartlett and his collaborator Havelock Hudson – who carry out collectively as Dumb Buoys Fishing Membership – have mockingly by no means skilled till at the moment, regardless of their band identify. This unconventional setting for an interview could also be a little bit of a lark, however it’s not a completely meaningless one. Of their music movies, the duo embody the characters of “two degenerate fishermen”, and will be seen frollicking across the seashores of Hastings in neon waterproof overalls and cargo vests. Their debut album ‘Wrecked’ (due September 15) is an intoxicating headrush of bass kicks and dizzying rap passages – frantic, quick and free alt-pop that oscillates between the hyperactive power of JPEGMAFIA and the measured cool of Jamiroquai.

As we circle the Royal Sovereign lighthouse, now 11 kilometres offshore, Bartlett and Hudson proceed to firmly decide to the bit: kitted out in matching spoof Bass Professional Retailers caps, they share Fisherman’s Pal lozenges and preserve a tally of what number of fish they catch over the course of the afternoon. They affectionately hype one another up with ease, too. “There was a near-instant inventive spark right here. We knew we landed on one thing distinctive just about immediately with this venture,” says Bartlett, who’ll proceed to repeatedly consult with his pal as “Hal”. Hudson, in the meantime, is eager to indicate off a Dumb Buoys Fishing Membership brand tattoo on his higher arm, which he obtained in LA on a latest songwriting journey.

Dumb Buoys Fishing Club
Credit score: Christos Georghiou

If Barlett and Hudson seem to be they’re in significantly excitable kind, it’s at the very least partly as a result of they’ve waited years for this second to reach. Having began out solo careers as DanDLion and Havelock respectively, each of them achieved reasonable success within the UK’s various house. Bartlett closed out the BBC Introducing Stage at Studying Competition 2022, the place he was joined by Griff; Hudson gained momentum throughout TikTok with 2020’s ‘Scrambled’. As ‘Wrecked’ highlights ‘Life Jacket’ and ‘Fortune Teller’ exhibit, nevertheless, they at all times had greater ambitions as producers – and Dumb Buoys Fishing Membership proved a novel alternative to let their imaginations run wild.

“We saved the religion within the music that we had been making, and made positive to maintain the album near ourselves and never let anybody else hear it for some time,” says Hudson, explaining how he and Bartlett began work on ‘Wrecked’ in late 2020, having met a 12 months prior in a studio session. “After we performed [‘Wrecked’] to folks, everybody’s response was the identical. They had been like, ‘Woah, what is that this?’,” says Bartlett. “It made us assume, ‘OK, we’re actually happy with what we’ve made.’”

Dumb Buoys Fishing Club
Credit score: Christos Georghiou

Having relocated to a picnic desk located on the principle promenade, Bartlett and Hudson clarify how a run of latest stay exhibits – together with dates at Boardmasters Competition and Glastonbury – inspired them to “totally give up” to the venture, and take additional time to domesticate a placing visible id. “We’ve needed to let down our guard utterly,” Hudson says, over a bath of ice cream. “We’ve discovered a technique to be our most extroverted selves, there’s an escapist ingredient to the music. Our goal in our social circles is commonly being the clowns of the group, however right here we will transmute that power into one thing substantial.”

Bartlett provides: “I feel we’re representing a youth tradition of being as expressive as you need to be.” It’s right here, mid-conversation, the place you actually catch sight of the relentless dedication that separates the pair from their friends; they need to be “nothing lower than the perfect”, Bartlett says, they usually’re placing within the work to make that occur. As an impartial act, they’re financially chargeable for all of the shifting items that make up their movies, from conception to execution. A cursory scroll by their TikTok account will present that they movie the clips themselves, utilizing a wealth of digital camera results and angles, throughout the southeast coast.

Dumb Buoys Fishing Club
Credit score: Christos Georghiou

The gradual, but notably enthusiastic response that Bartlett and Hudson are seeing in direction of their content material throughout their social media is “proof”, they are saying, that forging forward with out a sizable workforce behind them has been the fitting alternative all alongside – in addition to abandoning the necessity for business success. “We actually needed to shake issues up and simply give folks a smack on the face with this entire visible world of music,” Bartlett provides.

“It may well typically really feel like shouting right into a vacuum, having to fulfill up every week and put up our personal movies,” he continues. “However we had been sitting on this music for some time, and it turned a blind religion state of affairs: we needed to belief the method and perceive that the album will see the sunshine of day when the time is true, which is now.” As he speaks, Bartlett is considerate and regarded in his solutions – even when there’s typically a self-deprecating apart near the floor. “I’m shocked we’re not sick of one another but,” he provides. “However there’s an actual synergy between us. It’s particular.”

Dumb Buoys Fishing Club
Credit score: Christos Georghiou

And off they go, cooler luggage in hand, in direction of the practice station to take their catch of the day residence to London. You get the impression that this – a day trip at sea, bouncing off one another’s jokes, choosing up the place they left off within the studio – is strictly the place Bartlett and Hudson need to be. Their aim with Dumb Buoys Fishing Membership is just to honour that friendship.

Dumb Buoys Fishing Membership’s debut album ‘Wrecked’ might be launched on September 15



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