Flume discusses rise to fame and collaborating with the likes of Vic Mensa and Beck

Harley Streten, or most notably known as Flume, has become one of the industry’s biggest artists since breaking through with his self-titled debut album. The 2012 release was able to achieve several awards such as the ARIA Music Award for Best Dance Release and even a couple of platinum certifications.

‘Flume’ evidently propelled the Australian producer’s career to entirely new heights, but his second album titled ‘Skin’ turned him into a global phenomenon. The album featured collaborations with some prominent names such as Tove Lo and Vince Staples and its success is no secret as it is currently nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the upcoming 2017 Grammy Awards. In a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune, Flume spoke on the amount of support his album has received:

“I don’t think it’s a secret, I’m massively relieved. I didn’t know how it was going to go. I was actually quite concerned; I didn’t know what the future was going to be like. I feel quite liberated now. I feel like I can do whatever I want. I feel a lot of freedom.”

Flume then touched upon his collaboration with Grammy-nominated rapper Vic Mensa on “Lose It”:

“It was in my hometown of Sydney. He was playing a festival, and I was a fan of what he was up to. I hit him up, and we go in the studio together, and he played some of his ideas he was working on and I played him some of my stuff. There was a particular idea of mine that I was working on that he was really excited about, and that became (“Skin” track) “Lose It.”

The Sydney-native also joined forces with Beck for the track called “Tiny Cities”. He described his experience with the legendary American vocalist with:

“I was in L.A., and we were looking for people to work with, and my manager knew Beck was someone I was into. One day I got a call from my manager and he was like, “Hey, do you want to go to Beck’s house today?” I caught an Uber to his house and I knocked on the door, and there he is, it’s Beck, welcoming me into his house. It was kind of surreal, to be honest. I was wearing pink board shorts and a backpack and a cap, and I realized I looked like some kind of kid, just walking into this legend’s house, but he was really down to earth. We basically just hung out in his studio space. I played him a bunch of ideas and he would walk around the house with a microphone, (he’d) walk into the kitchen just singing, and I’d record everything.”

Lastly, Flume opened up about collaborating with other people and how the music, rather than personality, speaks for itself. He stated:

“It’s always nicer to connect and work on a song together, it feels more collaborative. But I also quite like doing something in my own space and sending it off, and someone changing it in a way I would never have thought. I kind of like working on my own a lot, but it feels more collaborative when you get in a studio and get to know the person you’re working with. I think that’s probably when the best stuff comes about.”

“For me, it’s not about the personality. For me it’s about the music. I think the music I make has a unique style, and that’s my brand. I actually try to keep my face off a lot of things, like album covers. I would never have my face on an album cover. For me, it’s all about the sonic identity.”

Check out the full interview of The Chicago Tribune here.