1 week ago
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Trance artist Dennis Sheperd unveiled his latest album for the world to bask in, and he swung by to dive into its messaging, thoughts on the scene, and more.
Dennis Sheperd is a man on a mission. Known for delivering majestical soundscapes in the realms of trance and progressive, he’s embarked on many sonic journeys over the years and released multiple albums along the way. From A Tribute To Life and Fight Your Fears to Find The Sunrise and Onwards // Upwards, each has oozed with dynamic elements inspired by real-life experiences.
In recent years, Dennis Sheperd has focused on his latest project, Soundcation, which is a producer retreat that takes place at venues around the world. Yet amid that, and a move to Bali, he found time to craft his latest studio album Release. This gorgeous body of work features 14 tracks, most of which bring collaborators into the mix who marry their own styles with his. But this album goes deeper with its messaging as Dennis Sheperd explained that he intended to break free of life’s chains and begin living to his full creative potential by breaking down genre barriers.
Looking to gain some added insight into the album, where Soundcation is heading next, and his thoughts on the scene, we sat down with Dennis Sheperd for a quality chat. Listen to Release on Spotify or your preferred platform, and read on for the full conversation with this electronic music maestro.
Stream Dennis Sheperd – Release on Spotify:
Dennis, thanks for joining us! How’s life in your world at the moment?
Thanks for having me! Life is beautiful. I try to enjoy every moment and be grateful for the people around me. Of course, it’s also been very busy, but more about that later, I suspect!
You’ve just released your fifth artist album, tell us a bit about its recording process and your motivations behind it?
Release is an album that represents progress for me. Breaking off the chains that kept me from living life to the fullest. And also trying to get an open mind in terms of music and styles. Everyone has been programmed in one form or another in their childhood and re-programming yourself is not an easy thing to do. But the effort is totally worth it. Since I have done and am still doing this successfully, I want to motivate others to do the same. That is what ‘Release’ is all about.
Wellness and mental well-being have been a strong theme behind some of your recent work – it seems to be something you’re quite passionate about.
Absolutely, mental health is an important topic in my life. I believe that each and everyone should try to work on their mental health. It’s like going to the gym but for your mind. It helped me have more clarity, be calmer, and be more self-reflective. It has also helped with certain childhood traumas that I believe almost every one of us has experienced to some degree. If you are interested, watch some interviews of Dr. Gabor Maté, who is one of the childhood trauma pioneers.
If you could point to one particular track on the album that encapsulates that element, which one would it be?It would absolutely be “Liberation.” I wrote this song together with Katty Heath in the studio, in person. And it is the unofficial album title as well, as the message is so strong and delivers exactly what I am trying to say through Release.
Do you have a singer-songwriter on the album that you consider a particular ‘muse’ or messenger in your music?It would definitely be Katty Heath. We have written well over 10 songs together now and work great in the studio. The messages that we would like to deliver through our songs align very well. How do you approach the process of selecting the co-producers and singer-songwriters generally?
In the current, fast-paced landscape of the electronic music scene, how often is it healthy for an artist to be releasing an album?
I am personally a little bit saddened by the fact, that music is being forgotten so quickly these days. The product life cycle of a single release 15 years ago was still at least four weeks but often a couple of months. These days, it’s two to three weeks max. On the other hand, producing music has become much easier than 15 years ago, and the possibilities and workflow have improved tremendously. If you have enough creativity, I don’t see a problem with releasing as much music or albums as you wish.
You co-own the Soundcation enterprise: tell us a little bit about how the retreats work and what drove your to launch them?Soundcation is a music production retreat, where you can learn from your idols, hang out with them and other likeminded people and really bond over music production. And all of that somewhere in an exotic and inspiring spot! I usually teach myself and invite two to three internationally renowned DJs or music producers to teach as well. Soundcation was co-founded with Yelow. I was teaching him music production many years ago and we were just talking and brainstorming ideas and realized that something like Soundcation didn’t exist back then. I’ve run Soundcation by myself now since 2023.
Where have you run them so far and are there any that you can share on the horizon?Soundcations have been organized in Bali, Phuket, Bangkok, Berlin (in a manor!), Amsterdam (during ADE), and Bulgaria (in the mountains).
The next Soundcation will be in Phuket, Thailand, from February 1-7, 2025, right before the popular Unkonscious Festival. The instructor lineup consists of Genix, Sean Tyas and myself. You can find more information about it through soundcation.net.
We’ve heard that you’ve just made a country-to-country move. Where have you moved to and what prompted it!?
I have recently relocated to Bali, Indonesia. It has been a dream of mine since before the pandemic. I had already set everything up, booked flights, etc., and the pandemic came. Indonesia closed its borders for two years. However, I was much better positioned to move now than 4.5 years ago. In the summer of 2020, I moved to Bulgaria instead, and it has been a great experience living in that country. Bali was my choice because of a combination of things, mostly the music scene here, the friendliness of the people, the fitness scene, the restaurant and food scene, and the weather (there’s always sun every single day!).
Finally, now that Release is out, what’s going to come next for Dennis Sheperd?First, we will release a couple of remixes of album tracks from Release. After that, I will do various unrelated single releases in 2025. But I already have plans for two bigger projects that I can’t give you any info about yet. Stay tuned for that!
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