Human Repetition

Although he’s still making appearances at the hottest events in Europe and finding himself inside “flame-throwing, giant mechanical [spiders]” (in front of 70,000 at Glasto no less), Orlando Higginbottom is currently in a period of downtime. On a break from the “crazy” schedule that followed his breakout 2012 Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs debut Trouble, the Oxford lad is right now at the heart of a follow-up record, playing sporadic DJ sets almost as a way to get out of the studio on the weekend.

"Why does it have to repeat so much?’ And I think he’s got a good point.”

The 28-year-old will extend this recording/performing cycle for us fine folk when he visits for Listen Out. Higginbottom won’t be touring his “precious and special” live show, singing on the mic or packing his trademark headpieces, but he does promise to try and wear some nice clothes for us, “and if I get my hands on some confetti I’ll let it off”.

He also confirms that he’ll be putting in some studio time locally, though he refrains from telling us who he’ll be working with, leaving us to linger with the intrigue.

“You work with people and sometimes it turns into something, sometimes it doesn’t,” Higginbottom shrugs. “But I’ve got some great friends down in Australia. I’m coming a little bit early and I’m leaving a little bit late so I’m going to be getting stuck into whatever is going on in Sydney and Melbourne.”

However, Higginbottom will admit that he’s going for a “bigger” sound with his next record, though he uses the descriptor a little differently than we probably would. “When I say bigger I’m talking about wider, I’m talking about more widescreen, more epic. Not necessarily in the sense of banging,” he laughs. “There are people who do bangers a lot better than me, but that’s not my goal. My goal is to write a great song.”

Creating the kinda ridiculous TEED moniker, and all the subsequent performance bells and whistles, after becoming sick of staring out at dancefloors filled with po-faced blokes in backpacks, the redesigned jungle vinylist has quietly become a house music revelation, injecting colour and identity into everything he does while humanising a style of music that many view as being without personality. This was obvious throughout Trouble, a forward-thinking record that Higginbottom agrees holds a timeless quality.

“Just before Christmas I listened to it again for the first time really since I finished it, and apart from a few production ideas I’m happy with it,” he admits. “It’s not what I’d make now but I’m happy that it’s honest; it’s a bit more honest than anyone gave it credit for. Those are songs that I was writing about my life – that’s still not a big part of electronic music. It’s kinda traditional songwriting in that sense so I’m proud of it, I think it’s a good first record; hopefully though my second album can be a lot better.”

That assertion we don’t doubt. But it was the ease which TEED took to the full-length format – something many dance producers have issues with – which really allowed him to make a jurassic-sized footprint on the electronic scene as a whole.

“I wouldn’t say it’s any harder in electronic music than playing in a band to make an album,” Higginbottom reasons. “You have to be quite [brave], your material has to be flowing the right way and then it’s a possibility, but it’s difficult for everybody to put together nine or ten tracks, or 14 tracks, and have it really work as a whole. You’re giving something to people – you’re saying this is a real body of work – and obviously this has taken me two years to make so please sit down for an hour-and-a-half and listen to it.”

His individual success has also made his father, Edward – a choral professor and musical director at the University of Oxford – very proud, though he has no idea about the context of that greatness.

“I am his only experience of anything clubby and electronic; he doesn’t know anything about it,” Higginbottom chuckles. “But I grew up making music with my dad so he knows [and likes who I am] as a musician – we share a lot of interests musically. He trusts that what I do is half-decent – he’s always very complimentary – but he always says, ‘Why does it have to repeat so much?’ And I think he’s got a good point.”