With his brand new EP out now, 2016 saw electro-pop artist Draper play Reading Festival and gain much acclaim from BBC Introducing and Radio 1. Skillfully collaborating with a range of other artists and vocalists, including Kyko and Prides, Draper creates sweeping, uplifting electronic anthems. 

We caught up with Draper to find out more… 

Hi Draper, how are you today?
Great thanks! It’s a bright sunny day in London.

You’ve just released your new EP Luminous – congrats! Is there a there a particular theme running throughout?
Thank you! The theme is uplifting, when I’m writing if it doesn’t make me get up out my seat with excitement then it goes in the scrap pile. These tracks on this EP did just that. Conceptually a lot of the songs are about a relationship between two people, not necessarily in a particular or coherent order but a lot of the features have lyrics touching on different motions that people go through when starting a new relationship and how often problems can result from insecurities and innuendos. I’m sure some people will be able to relate to at least one or two of the tracks!

Out of the six tracks on the EP, which is your favourite and why?
I can’t say I have a favourite because I love them all, but a track particularly close to me is ‘Who Are You’ because I sung on it. This track personally means the most to me because I put my vocals out there for the first time! The reaction has been great towards all of the tracks on the EP and singing on one myself for the first time very much represents a break through in terms of my confidence as a performing and recording artist, away from being a writer/producer, so I’m just really glad that one in particular has been received so well.

You played on the BBC Introducing and Radio 1 Stages over the summer. What was your festival highlight of 2016?
Reading Festival 2016 without a doubt, the crowd were so engaged that it made my first proper festival performance an absolute pleasure and blast! I opened up the Dance Stage which was really nerve-racking, and was a bit concerned that not a lot of people were going to show up, so walking on stage to a few thousand people singing the words to my songs back at me was just the best.

You’ve worked with Prides in the track ‘Break Over You’. Do you feel as though this collaboration led to a different sound to the music, and if so why?
I’d say that’s the case with every feature performance I have. When I write with an artist I want them to bring their flair and unique style to the performance, that way we end up with something that we both feel connected to! It also makes for a better end result. So yes, one of the main points of doing these collaborations is to really explore where we can take the sound and make it truly unique to the style of artist that’s featuring on that respective track. The Prides one was really fun throughout though and absolutely loved working with Stuart from the band on that.

Who has been your favourite person to collaborate with?
I couldn’t pick one specifically out of the awesome bunch, but everyone on this EP was a delight to work with. I had worked with BB Diamond before and that track just came together very naturally as it seems we’re a good fit for each other in terms of vocal and production. Outside of the EP, the Sykes, Prides and Abi Ocia collaborations were amazing to do and led to three very different sounding singles. And outside of my own singles, I absolutely loved working with Låpsley on ‘Falling Short’ and ‘Hurt Me’, as well as Abi Ocia’s debut single ‘Running’ which I co-wrote and produced.

What drew you to electronic/melodic music in particular?
My love for pop music. When I first started writing the dubstep genre was coming up but I didn’t want to do wubs and gritty basses so I made pop dubstep. I love something that really takes you away melodically. People describe a lot of my instrumental stuff as “mood music” which I get the meaning around how that phrase is intended, but I supposed at the same time I want all of my music to invoke a mood or a feeling from someone listening – otherwise it wouldn’t really be music! The uplifting melodic music I make is just reflective of my personality I guess – I’m generally quite an upbeat happy guy!

Can you describe your sound in three words?
Super fun escapism.

And, finally, what does 2017 have in store for Draper?
I have a show on 3rd February at Koko coming up – I’ve played there a bunch already and it’s always awesome to play. Then there’s SXSW coming up in March for which I am pumped to be playing my first US live dates. And then, more singles, more writing/production collabs and essentially a lot more Draper at festivals…

Huge thanks to Draper for answering our questions! You can order Luminous here and get tickets for his upcoming Koko show here.