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Photo Credit: Viktor Fremling

Jeremy Olander is an artist on the rise with tremendous talent to fuel his trajectory to illustrious heights. He is evolving, developing and getting better with every release be it on Pryda, Suara or his latest microCastle Goliath EP.

Some have regarded him as a savior of progressive house, but Jeremy's talents are far more diverse and simply too strong to be contained by one genre. So, let's just say Jeremy Olander is a savior of beautiful music and expression. With a grace and precision, he makes music that shines brightly, but can also dive to dark sinister depths. He can make you love the world, or he can make a dark underworld frought with monsters roaming about destroying the dancefloor.

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Big things lie in Jeremy Olander's future as he steps fully onto his own path. I assure you they are no small feats, after all this is Jeremy Olander we are talking about, he never does anything small. Most notably, he has a new show called lo-fi which debuts on May 15 with loads of new music, and he plans to tour the world over with this exciting concept show. So, without giving away too much, why don't we let Mr. Jeremy Olander tell you all about it himself? Here now is my interview with the brilliant Jeremy Olander.

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How are all things Jeremy Olander going?

Jeremy Olander: Things are pretty great! I’m busy making new music for the premiere of my own concept called lo-fi. It’s in Stockholm on May 15th. I hope to have about 7-8 new tracks done for that. It’s my first show in hometown in more than 2 years so I’m pretty excited about it! The plan is to take it on the road later this year to a few European, US and Canadian cities.

Your ‘Goliath’ EP is excellent as usual. How do you feel about it?

Jeremy Olander: I feel really great about it. I think the EP as a whole is pretty diverse and there’s something in there for everyone. I’m almost most stoked about Marc’s remix on ‘Goliath’. It’s insane. He really took it in a cool direction. As far as the tracks on there we went back and forth quite a bit together with Mitch, the label manager at microCastle, picking out what records to include and the end result turned out great. My manager had been speaking to Mitch for a pretty long time about doing something together and now felt like the right time for both.

How would you describe Jeremy Olander as an artist?

Jeremy Olander: That’s a tough one. I try to develop and get better every time I sit down to make music or play a set regardless if it’s at home or in front of a crowd. Something that’s also a constant is that I don’t try to follow trends. I make music for the dance floors that I feel I miss in my sets. Anyone that’s heard me play knows that can mean anything from drum-oriented techno, deeper progressive records all the way to larger vocal infused tracks and everything in-between.

As you are highly regarded as a forerunner of the genre, how would you simply define or explain the progressive house genre?

Jeremy Olander: I don’t know if I’d describe myself in those words, but thank you! For me, my frame of reference when I say “progressive house” is the golden age of the genre, which I think was in the early 2000s when Sasha and Digweed were the pioneers. A lot of the sounds from back then inspire me to this day and what I do has a touch of that, but very much with my own twist.

I think it’s unfortunate that in a lot of ways the term “progressive house” has been hijacked in a sense by what in my opinion should be labeled as is big room or arena house. At the same time, it’s just music. We should be more concerned about what it sounds like and if we like it or not rather than putting it in different boxes and calling it names.

What other releases can we expect from you in the near future? Possibly an album in the works?

Jeremy Olander: I’ve done a remix for Dosem that will be dropping on Suara this summer. I met Coyu in India last winter when I played B2B with Guy J at a festival called Supersonic and we hit it off. He’s a really cool guy and when we both got back home he asked if I wanted to be a part of a remix project for Dosem and his album “City Cuts”. I love Dosem’s stuff and ended up picking the lead track off the album called “Runnerpark”. Response has been great so far so I’m looking forward to putting it out there.

I’m also releasing an original on a Suara compilation. Can’t talk too much about the theme of the compilation or what the track is called but it’s really cool to be a part of it. Lots of cool names on there that I like a lot. We’re talking about me possibly doing an EP on there too. I also plan on dropping the first release on my own label this year. That’s probably what I look forward to the most.

Your music is amazing and unmistakably sounds to be your own. Where exactly does this music come from? Do you hear it inside your head? Or do you find it in the studio? Essentially, what is your production process?

Jeremy Olander: I almost always start out with knowing roughly what kind of a track I want to make. Since I make them to play them at a certain point during the evening, which differs depending on the mood, I have relatively clear picture in my mind. It doesn’t always end up sounding like I had hoped it would though. That’s pretty rare, actually. Sometimes a Jeremy Olander track ends up being a Dhillon track and vice versa.

Before I sit down I either have an idea for a groove, have melody in my head or think of something else I can base that particular track around. Sometimes I can hear vocal sample or a portion of a track off Beatport that sparks an overall idea. It differs for each track really.

Follow up, your music can be so bright, positive, and joyful. How do you come about making music that is so full of good emotions?

Jeremy Olander: And it can also be very dark and sinister. To me that’s what’s music is about. It’s a form of expression. I can’t really pin point exactly what it is but I guess I have some sort of ability to channel what I feel when I produce.

What inspires you?

Jeremy Olander: Everything! New places I see, people I meet.

How are things going with Pryda? Must have felt amazing to be the one and only other artist to be released on Pryda along with Mr. Prydz!

Jeremy Olander: Yes, great honor for sure. If I’ll be able to achieve a fraction of what Eric’s done during his career as far as his labels and everything else I’ll be a happy man.

You appear to be on quite the upward trajectory heading towards an amazing future. Where do you see your career going from here?

Jeremy Olander: It’s really about becoming my own artist for me. Having my own identity and being referred to on the basis of my own accomplishments rather than an association to someone else. I’m at a place where I want to create my own foundation in terms of different live concept brands, my own label and things like that.

How are things with your more techno leaning project Dhillon?

Jeremy Olander: He’s alive and kicking. Have heaps of unreleased Dhillon stuff and with that much to choose from I feel I can really put out a truly great EP that represents the type of techno I enjoy. At this point I think I’m going to release it myself.

What is one deep thought you have been having lately?

Jeremy Olander: I’ve into Buddhism a lot because of this book I’ve been reading called “Joy of Living”. I’ve been thinking about what the mind actually is. Why I think the way I think, why I like the stuff I like and so on. It’s difficult to explain, but it’s fascinating.

Any final thoughts or words of wisdom for aspiring artists?

Jeremy Olander: Stay true to who you are, what you like and stick with it.

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