From Dusk Till Dawn

Granger-Howell and Harriman grew up on drum ‘n’ bass, then UK garage, both DJing as teens. The pair of ravers likewise have formal musical training – Granger-Howell, a pianist, studied composition (at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music, no less) and Harriman production. The pals were collaborating under the name Solarity when in 2011, having cut the album Stick By This for Anjunadeep, a subsidiary of Above & Beyond’s trance powerhouse Anjunabeats(!), they decided to rebrand themselves as Dusky. “There was a gradual change in the sound of our Solarity project during 2010 to 2011 when we were working on our first album,” Harriman explains. “We always let our music follow our tastes and interests and, for various reasons, we found ourselves gravitating to a more straight-up house and techno sound. The album was originally going to be a Solarity one but, about halfway through the writing process, the Anjunadeep guys suggested we consider another alias as our sound had changed so much. Dusky was born as a result.” Dusky gained momentum in a seemingly short time, their LP impressing Radio 1’s Pete Tong. In 2012 they relished a huge club hit with Flo Jam on Dogmatik Records – later an ‘iTunes Dance Single of the Year’.

This year has been about consolidation for Dusky. They curated a night at Fabric, but have also played Ibiza, Las Vegas’ Electric Daisy Carnival, and Glastonbury – which Harriman recalls as “awesome”. In July Dusky launched a label, 17 Steps, with their Love Taking Over EP. “The vision is simple – to put out music that we believe in and that we like,” says Granger-Howell.

Dusky have been linked to the deep house revival, but they might yet reinvent themselves again. “Breakbeat could be an interesting one!” Granger-Howell teases. “Both old skool and nu-skool. It depends on which way the scene changes in terms of whether it would connect with people, though…”

Fans will hear fresh Dusky material on their Australian dates. “We’ll see what the crowd’s like in terms of what direction we’ll ultimately take the set in... There’ll definitely be a whole load of new music from us in there.”