A lot has been written about Öona Dahl over the past few years, much in thanks to releases on Lee Burridge’s All Day I Dream and, more recently, Hallucienda, where she released her debut album in 2017. Back in mid-’00s, as she was beginning to play around Florida, United States, Dahl caught the attention of DJ Three who began doing some digging. “One night, I just happened to stumble upon her Soundcloud and came across a playlist of about seven tracks, but these weren’t just any tracks,” Three recalls. “These were exceptional, proper songs that reminded more of the ambient vocal stylings of This Mortal Coil or other early 4AD label stuff.” Encouraging her to expand upon her eclectic instincts, Three signed the more left-leaning tracks, and these formed the spine of her Holograma LP, available now.

Dahl’s story begins in New York, but she moved to Florida to study sound design at The International Academy of Design and Technology for Digital Media and Recording Arts. She began making electronic music in 2009, solo and as Slumber in collaboration with her friend Amber Cox. Slumber, with its dark and moody aesthetic, debuted in 2013, shortly before Dahl’s HEAR.FEEL.HEAL.REPEAT EP and “High Eyes,” a 2015 contribution to an All Day I Dream summer sampler, which led to bookings at the much-loved party series where she established herself as a regular, entrusted with closing many of the bigger events.

In the time since Let The Light In, her second outing on All Day I Dream, Dahl has started to exhibit her versatility as a producer, well beyond the deep dreamscapes that underpin the All Day I Dream niche. The earliest signs of this experimentalism came with Wait Lifted, a five-track EP of cinematic ambience, vocal electronica, and cosmic house that set the stage for Holograma. Across nine tracks, Dahl stepped away from the dancefloor and pushed her songwriting prowess to the forefront, weaving through floating ambience, psychedelic techno, and pop-infused pastures with her vocals featuring throughout. It reflected an ability to connect with the listener without following deeply-ingrained cues in music, which is something often said about her DJ sets, which employ isochronic tones, sumptuous melodies, and strong grooves to induce a dream-like state.

Now based back in Florida, Dahl is working on an EP with DJ Tennis for Life and Death and her second album for Hallucienda. Most recently, she contributed to XLR8R+ with”15 Years Old,” an ambient track that she uses to open her XLR8R podcast. Recorded on the fly in her home studio, it’s a snapshot of what Dahl is playing now, full of her favorite tracks including work from Sei A, TERR, and DJ Metatron. Expect “vocal textures, vintage pastures, acid rhythms, and the spaces in between,” she explains.

Öona Dahl features on ‘XLR8R+017,’ delivering an engrossing ambient track, alongside cuts from DeWalta and Alci and a range of content. Check out the package here.

What have you been up to recently?

Hello. I had a couple weeks off to work on my second album and to create a music video for my new release with Kirsty Hawkshaw, “Love Is All We Need.”

The music you’re making has evolved considerably over the past few years. What’s driven this change?

My music tends to be all over the place. I think it’s just a matter of what people heard first based on what labels they came out on. I’m always creating my own thumbprint on the full spectrum of sound.

How close do you think you are to finding your strongest musical expression?

So close I can hear it, and then it evolves.

What can we expect with this podcast?

The mix has a couple original tracks, the first being “15 Years Old” which was just released on XLR8R+ and another under my alias as Slumber titled “Antidote.” I incorporated a lot of music I’ve been playing in my sets lately and even some tracks from the Hallucination Limited catalogue. Expect vocal textures, vintage pastures, acid rhythms, and the spaces in between.

When and where did you record it?

Had a jam session at home before I left for Art Basel in Miami.

Is there a concept to it?

Sparkle and fade…

How does it compare to what you’d play in a club set?

I played a handful of the tracks in the mix a few weeks ago in Denver, United States at Meow Wolf’s Dark Palace.

How did you choose the tracks that you included?

When analysing music for a mix, it’s important to me to incorporate what I’m currently playing, something that resonates with me from the past and original sounds.

What are your ambitions in music?

Creating a sound and visual space where people are able to unite on a similar vibrational frequency that may play a roll in expanding their consciousness.

XLR8R has now joined Mixcloud Select, meaning that to download the podcast you will need to subscribe to our Select channel. The move to Mixcloud Select will ensure that all the producers with music featured in our mixes get paid. You can read more about it here.

Tracklisting

01. Öona Dahl “15 Years Old” (XLR8R+)
02. Project Pablo “Without Knowing” Verdicchio Music Publishing
03. Jesuslovesacid “Swimming” (Vitalik Recordings)
04. Onur Ozman “At Spoerri’s” (ANOTR Remix) (Hottrax)
05. Sei A “Patter” (Aus Music)
06. Altocamet “Pasion Descalza” (Swayzak’s Vocal Mix) (Shinichi)
07. Few Nolder “Chestnut” (Boso)
08. Slumber “Antidote” (Unreleased)
09. Sycophant Slags “Dharma Fields” (Hallucination Limited)
10. TERR “Energy Sync” (Phantasy Sound)
11. Benedikt Frey “Substance B” (ESP Institute)
12. Hawke “3 Moods in a Gurple Pardon” (Hardkiss Music)
13. Aphasia “Acapulco” (Hallucination Limited)
14. DJ Metatron “Rave Child” (Traumprinz)