Red.Soul - Dreams Are High

This post is a little different than usual, but it's one I wanted to share with you all. Like most people music does play a huge role in my life and I constantly surround myself with it. I'm lucky to come from a family who loves music just as much as I do (if not more), and that I got to grow up around such creative people. I remember when I was young, my cousins, sister and I would always hide away at family gatherings, singing to our favourite songs and dreaming of one day being a Spice Girl (ha! Don't pretend you didn't..).

I am so proud to see how far my cousin has come since then, and how hard she is working to pursue her dream. Her and her fellow band member have just released their first single, and I wanted to share it with you all because, although yes she is my cousin so I am going to be a bit biased, regardless of this I do see very bright things for hers and their future. Just watch the video below and see for yourselves!


As this is their first single, I thought it would be nice to get to know Red.Soul a bit more, and see what their new single means to them.

Who makes up Red.Soul?
Mike de Groot and Steph Fisher

Who/What influences you?
Mike: Mainly hip-hop producers like J Dilla, 9th wonder and Eric Lau, but also more downtempo stuff like Portishead and Massive Attack.
Steph: Vocally I take influences from all sorts of artists like Etta James, Amy Winehouse and Chris Cornell, but I listen to a really diverse range of stuff. The first vocalist I loved was Lauryn Hill though so I will always love her!

What is your musical style?
Mike: From a production perspective it's kind of like old soul and reggae samples cut up over slow hip-hop beats. I'm quite into lo-fi gritty sounding music too so I try to pull that into my sound when I can. Haha I don't really know how to say it I just wanna make stuff I like.
Steph: I think vocally I'm soulful and jazz, sort of like Amy Winehouse, but obviously not in the same league haha!

How did Red.Soul begin?
Steph: We worked together in a restaurant in brighton and I ended up helping Mike out with a separate project. We were both really happy with what we ended up doing and thought it might be nice to do something in the future.
Mike: My brother got me a job at a restaurant he used to manage and suggested I work with Steph on a project I was doing for my university course. I really liked her vocal style and thought it would be cool to do something together.

What was your inspiration behind 'dreams are high'?
Mike: To be honest for me initially it was totally the original, I heard it and felt like it was the perfect track to sample. I went through loads of different versions and had loads of ideas for it but didn't really feel like I was doing it justice (I barely do now).
Steph: Lyrically the track is broadly about our group of friends in Brighton and all the nights we have going out and usually drinking too much ha!

What are your plans for the future?
Steph: Just to finish and release our E.P and potentially in the future and album and gig lots!
Mike: Can't wait to get the EP released and see where else we can go with Red.Soul, we're working with a drummer at the moment for our live set which has been really fun.

What does your music reflect about you?
Steph: I just want our music to reflect our personalities and hopefully be music that people can relate to because we're just talking about normal every day things.
Mike: The music I listen to is a really big part of my life and I hope what we do can be as valid as that.

Watch the video for their first single below:

Artist: Red.Soul | Vocals: Stephanie Louise Fisher | Producer: Mike de Groot | Mastered by: PJ Bridger  

Video: Rachel Close

You can find their new single on songiest here.
Red.Soul's EP will be coming out later on in the spring, so make sure you are on the lookout for that! In the meantime be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter.