Dylan Joel Is That Fresh Homemade Lemonade That's So Hard To Find

"I wanted to make my mark. 'I'm here and I can do this on my own,'" declares Joel. "I really felt like, being that it was my debut album it's so easy to get an amazing vocalist to sing the hook or get a whole bunch of feature artists that everyone knows. For me, I wanted to sing my own hooks and show people what I can do and make my statement."

A rapper, songwriter and guitarist out of Melbourne, Dylan Joel started his career in 2012, dropping the radio-hit single Leveled and winning triple j Unearthed's Pyramid Rock comp. The momentum he gained rolled into That's Good, a mixtape album high on guest performances. This time around Joel preferred to keep to himself to prove he could introduce his debut album with the least amount of help. Co-produced by Cam Bluff, Authentic Lemonade is freshly squeezed cool musicianship unlike anything else being stocked on the shelves.

"What's something in the world … for which it's harder to find a more authentic version and I realised, 'Oh! Lemonade.'"

"By the time the album was three-quarters of the way through being written I realised the majority of the songs were based around the idea of just being yourself, being genuine and the importance of staying true to who you are," says Joel. "I thought what's something in the world that is like an item or a product, that is something more commonly found to be an overproduced and inauthentic copy and something for which it's harder to find a more authentic version and I realised, 'Oh! Lemonade.' It's always stocked and overproduced, a real confectionary item and you can rarely find a really good, freshly squeezed lemonade.

"So many people have helped me on the album as it is, which makes it hard to really say it's all mine. But, at the same time, I really wanted to put my whole self into it," he added.

Authentic Lemonade makes for a refreshing opus from the young MC whose only album collaboration comes with renowned spitter Mantra featuring DJ Izm (Bliss N Eso) on the cuts for his second single Swing.

"I only want to put features on songs if they're actually going to create another element to the song that I can't. And for most of the songs it didn't feel like they necessary needed that. That was where with Swing I felt that this needed extra peeps on it, this is a posse track! It needs some of my homies... They've both been huge idols to me."

With Authentic Lemonade now out, Joel is gearing himself up for a decent-sized national tour and, coming off a Seth Sentry support slot, he's more than ready.

"I'm just excited to do us. Seth has been saying on tour how much of a positive vibe we bring and that's kinda our thing, we want to make music that people can really take home, they can leave the night feeling enlightened. I'm really hyped for that man, really excited just to play to whoever comes."