Disco Montego's Dennis Dowlut Shares How His Brother & Son Inspired His Latest Project, Deutsch Duke

Blogs have been buzzing over Australian "newcomer" Deutsch Duke – the featured vocalist on Set Mo's 2015 White Dress. However, 'Deutsch Duke' is no novice, but rather the latest guise of Dennis Dowlut – Oz R&B pioneer. His stunning reinvention as an avant-soul auteur would impress even the eternally hip Craig David.

In 1995 Dennis – born in the UK to Mauritian parents – launched the Melbourne R&B outfit Kaylan with his younger brother Darren, joining such homegrown stars as Deni Hines, Kulcha and CDB. The duo teamed with The Rockmelons to record 2000's debut No Commandments – its lead jam, Rock Me All Night, fusing G-funk and New Jack Swing.

Kaylan soon cannily segued into the dance music combo Disco Montego – their eponymous album boasting as guests Daniel Merriweather, Jade MacRae and Bardot's Katie Underwood (the mega-hit Beautiful). By this stage, the Dowluts were also producing and developing other artists (and intriguing Baz Luhrmann). Mariah Carey commissioned the Dowluts to remix Boy (I Need You) – for which they used the handle The Duke And MVP. The siblings prepared to move to the US in 2005. But, tragically, Darren was diagnosed with a virulent cancer – and he passed. Dennis eventually re-surfaced with Electric Empire – a cult neo-soul band globally.

Australia's '90s R&B acts often struggled to establish their own identities and to overcome cultural cringe. Many had 'safe' hits with covers (Selwyn remaking Hall & Oates' Rich Girl). Yet the Dowluts defied any limitations. Some of their '90s peers disappeared. Others, like Israel Cruz, switched to production. A reunited CDB have latterly capitalised on nostalgia, airing a '90s covers album. In 2018, Past To Present is a "corporate party cover band", accompanied by Joanne of Jackie fame. Nonetheless, Dennis is all about the future. And he's ingeniously pivoted to a modish electronic R&B to rival that of The Weeknd, James Blake and Oscar Key Sung. 

Today the Sydney-based Dennis admits to OG Flavas that, with Deutsch Duke, he was aiming to generate mystique. Even while still gigging with Electric Empire, the singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer assisted Future Classic's house heroes Flight Facilities on Down To Earth. In the interim, R&B and electronica merged – Dennis praising Daft Punk for recording Get Lucky with Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers.

He softly introduced Deutsch Duke with Feels Good on SoundCloud. "I just loved how you could really manipulate sounds and my vocals," Dennis says of electro 'n' B. "I just fell in love with that; that you could kinda hide. It didn't sound like me, so therefore I had to find a name that sounded like this voice!"

Sydney deep housers Set Mo "reached out" to Dennis, inviting him to write to one of their demos – culminating in the sublime White Dress. "I sort of wrote the melody and the idea while I was cooking," Dennis laughs. "I just had it playing and I remember cooking and then turning on my phone and recording the melody and the idea for the song. I went back to them and I started writing it – and we pretty much had it. But it was really nice to be able to work with those guys because I got to produce on that record as well – I added live guitars and saxophone and extra production and stuff on that record. Everything that I like to work on, if it's electronic, there needs to be this hybrid thing about it. I like the element of some organic live sounds in there 'cause of my [band] background." British garage legend Wookie provided a streetwise remix.

Currently, Dennis is promoting his first official single, So Real – simultaneously transcendent future R&B and euphoric deep house. "I just love with that track how it takes so many twists. It's like a piece of music that was written for a scene in a film. Everything happens once. There's only one verse; the chords change and the sample changes and the synths come in – it just evolves and evolves and evolves… I love that; that you could actually put a track out that only has one verse and it makes sense to people."

So Real opens with an interpolation of Gabriel Faure's Pavane (previously flipped for rapper Xzibit's 1996 banger Paparazzi) – a recommendation from Dennis' producer pal Styalz Fuego. "Just so we wouldn't have any clearance issues, I actually re-created the sample," Dennis reveals. "So that sample is actually me – like I reworked all the strings and sang the melodies. That's my voice in the sample." 

In fact, Dennis cut So Real in 2014, only to archive it because of the emotional theme. "The song feels kind of a little dark," he begins. "Around the time that my son [Bastien] was about two – like I was feeling okay about Darren [but] then I went through this really rough period again and just started really missing him. I was reminded that my son would never, ever meet Darren and he would never have an uncle – it's really upsetting. When I wrote [So Real], the lyrics were about that situation."

Two years ago, Dennis shot the film-clip. "A friend of mine, the director [Jonathan Vassallo], suggested that we work with my son on the video to sort of help me deal with this issue," he shares. "He's like, 'Man, you should turn this into something really beautiful for Darren and it'll give you an opportunity to work with your son on the video and you'll have it forever.' I was like, 'Yes, this is a brilliant idea.'"

Still, Dennis postponed a release. "I was just waiting for the right time to put it out. I was waiting for a time when I could actually put it out and not be upset by it. So it's taken four years for me to be able to have that out in the marketplace and for people to hear it without being asked questions about it and breaking down – and listening to it and breaking down. So it's just taken a little time."

So Real is now the inaugural issue on the TMRW Music (formerly Ministry Of Sound Australia) imprint Risque, dedicated to "urban flavoured electronic music". Dennis will drop a mixtape mid-year. And the star plans to tour – after he devises a paradigm that combines electronics and live instrumentation. (Like Mr David, he has DJed – singing over the top.)

A music (and technology) "nerd", Dennis is aware of R&B's generational divide. Traditionalists deem contemporary R&B too experimental – and too weird. But not Dennis. He excitedly predicts more urban music "subcultures", plus the return of both live components and, curiously, sampling.

"When I was in Electric Empire, we were touring with Lee Fields in France and we were a '60s soul band, but I was listening to Flume," he laughs. "I was probably the only guy in the band that was listening to Flume. They were purists listening to Marvin Gaye, where I feel like I grew up on that and so I know that like the back of my hand. So, when something new and innovative comes out, my ears just go mental. I've just gotta listen to it and just understand it and pick it apart. I just love that. I just wanna keep making music 'til I'm old and grey. I just love it. There's no one that should tell me that I can't. I'll just continue to do that."