For his exclusive Dazed Mix, the south London artist shares a selection of field recordings, synth accompaniments, and samples flipped from his archives
With tales of obsession, late-night antics and altered states, Incantations is the second release by Felix Lee. The south London artist has spent the last decade making his mark on the city’s eclectic underground scene with his anarchic club night Endless, an incubator for new sounds and styles, along with curating its monthly NTS show.
Following on from his 2019 debut Inna Daze, Incantations is an intimate retelling of early hours spent wandering across the city. Featuring friends and collaborators such as Bladee, Cold, Oxhy and Whitearmor, there’s a liminal quality to Lee’s observations, where blurry soundscapes rub shoulders with emotionally charged vocals and distorted string arrangements that feels neither here nor there.
For his exclusive Dazed mix, Lee has created an OST to a film that doesn’t exist, made up of field recordings taken from around his house in Brixton, synth accompaniments, and samples flipped from his archives.
You’ve just released Incantations, how do you feel about it?
Felix Lee: I feel blessed. It’s been one of those projects that was supposed to take a couple months, then spiraled into a year plus of moving around, recording, re-writing. I had a lot of side work last year doing score stuff, which took over for a bit.
What’s the meaning behind the album’s name?
Felix Lee: It comes from a loose narrative behind the songs, and as a voice-led project, how lyrics can be a type of ‘incantation’ or spell.
What are some of the inspirations behind the record?
Felix Lee: I wanted to lock down a very specific feeling, similar to my first LP, but expand on it further. It’s like a white noise undertone of dread, interrupted by moments of joy and detachment. I’m really into writing dark ballads and thinking of everything I make as a soundtrack to these kinda states.
What are some of your earliest memories of music? Have they influenced your sound at all?
Felix Lee: My dad would bang out a lot of music that still inspires me to this day. He put me on to a lot of post punk, like Suicide, The Fall etc. Some of my earliest memories are of these records coming out of our kitchen stereo. Also, although it sounds cliche, growing up in south gave me an affinity to blown-out sound-systems and bass culture that informs most of the music I make equally.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Felix Lee: All types of things. It could be Psychic TV or Skeng depending what vibe I’m on – and a lot of new or unreleased stuff from my friends: The Fertile Crescent, Xterea, Kamixlo, Bela, Palmistry... off the dome, the list goes on.
Any fun projects or shows lined up?
Felix Lee: I’ve been enjoying performing live lately. I feel like I finally figured out how to get my point across. Got a couple videos soon, and am starting the next full–length project too, along with some collaborations.
Tell us about your Dazed mix.
Felix Lee: I wanted to do something a bit different. Instead of a making DJ mix to skip through, and eventually get lost in the algorithm, I went for a walk around my area with a recorder, then spent a day in the studio improvising with synths, chopping, and mangling all the sounds until it sounded like something.
How were you feeling when making it?
Felix Lee: Tunnel vision.
Incantations is out now