Surname Aside, Ryan Hemsworth Is Ready To Hit Aus

The cutting-edge Canadian DJ/producer Ryan Hemsworth is a regular visitor to Australia. One wild rumour is that he's secretly related to those famous actor brothers Chris and Liam. Hemsworth, in London on tour, chuckles when probed for the truth. "Well - I'll have to keep it secret."

Last here for 2015's Listen Out fest, Hemsworth is returning to headline Beyond The Valley alongside the likes of Chance The Rapper, Hudson Mohawke and Phantogram. "I've always wanted to do Australia for New Year's," he enthuses. "I've always heard great stuff about it."

"You don't need to stress too much about going back and forth and making the perfect song. Sometimes it kinda just comes together on its own."

Hemsworth came up in Halifax playing guitar and singing in bands. But, exploring hip hop and electronic music online, he developed into a bedroom producer. Hemsworth - who studied journalism at college - was among the first beatmakers to blend hip hop, R&B, electronica and indie, describing his music as "all over the place". In 2011 he dropped a collab album, Distorted, with Oakland rapper Shady Blaze. The alt-urban hybrid is now pervasive. And Hemsworth believes that it's because the old "stigma" of listening to disparate genres has gone. "You're supposed to enjoy discovering new music and different styles every day and stuff like that - and that's what keeps it fun."

In 2012 Hemsworth remixed Boss for rising R&B star Tinashe. She subsequently performed on the illwave single One For Me from his acclaimed solo debut, Guilt Trips. They've remained in touch, Hemsworth contributing to Tinashe's Amethyst mixtape - and he was a special guest on her Joyride Tour. "There's certain people who you find that musically you just connect [with] and you don't need to stress too much about going back and forth and making the perfect song. Sometimes it kinda just comes together on its own. When you find those people, you hold on to 'em."

These days Hemsworth is based in Toronto. He admits to having had the "romantic idea" of trying to join Drake's local OVO Sound posse - "'cause for music they sort of run the city and they keep it on lock." But this does mean that it's "a clique". "They're territorial, which is cool in its own way, 'cause Toronto has never really been on the map like that." Hemsworth may not fit in, anyway. "There's an interest there, but I think I've also gotten more and more comfortable with my own sound and what I'm doing."

Recently Hemsworth has been working on "a rap album", setting up camp in Atlanta. "It's been a really different, fun experience for me. I've been producing for singers and rappers for at least six years now, but this [project] is really just [about me] spending weeks at a time in the city - going to the studio every day, having different people come in... So it's been like this kind of a push to really make new music every day - [you] look forward to who is coming in, what are you gonna make, really working on your toes, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while. Be a bit instinctive with it, I guess."