Berlin Producer Dream Koala Plays At Magnetic Fields This Month

Dream Koala

A Paris-native, but longtime Berlin resident and musician, Yndi Ferreira is one of electronica’s most compelling figures. The 20-year-old producer, who performs under the alias Dream Koala, first gained attention with the release of his single “We Can’t Be Friends” in 2012 which made him an internet sensation, led to a spot on live music session broadcast Boiler Room and interviews in publications such as Noisey, Interview and Dazed Digital. Says Ferreira, “I’m a better producer than a few years ago. I’ve learned by watching other people working, and trying to think like a producer rather than like a guitarist or singer. It’s easier now to make the music that I want to make.”

Born to Brazilian musicians, Fer­reira grew up listening to everything from bossa nova to black metal. Says the pro­ducer, “It’s a usual thing when you’re a kid, you want to be different, and you don’t want to do the same thing as your parents. But I was raised with music and I always wanted to create things, it’s in my blood.” Although Ferreira’s music is distinctly electronic, the artist records samples of each instrumental sequence along with layers of his vocals, creating a style that lands somewhere between shoegaze and dreampop. Citing a diverse range of influences that include artists such as Incubus, Björk and FKA Twigs, Ferreira combines elec­tronic elements with live instru­mentation. Says the artist, “Some songs just don’t need many elec­tronic parts, or there’s too much guitar or too many voices ”” it just becomes noise. I like to go back to tracks and take out what isn’t needed so the songs can breathe.” Ferreira has also remixed tracks for art­ists such as American singer-songwriter Banks, American rapper Angel Haze and English indie rock band The 1975.

As a child, Ferreira wanted to pursue filmmaking and has been actively involved in conceptualizing all his music videos. His debut EP Earth. Home. Destroyed. which released earlier this year, was lyrically inspired by surreal landscapes. Adds the artist, “I think that if you question yourself too much, you end up doing nothing. I want to make something that is different and that will matter. It’s my chance want to create something that is important to me.” One of his first music videos “Odyssey,” was directed by Adrien Peze and Albin Merle who modeled the cinematography around the styles of Terrence Malick and Hayao Miyazaki and was based on dream that Ferreira had. The artist has previously described the experience: “I wrote this song when I woke up from a dream where I was dying in a plane crash. It’s about the fear of not reaching your goals, the fear to die without realizing your dreams.”

Ferreira, who makes his India debut at the second edition of Magnetic Fields Festival in Rajasthan this month, will perform most of the songs from his catalogue during his set ”” improvizing and recreating his music with a guitar and a drum pad. Says the producer, speaking about his live sets, “There’s just me on stage singing, playing guitar, there’s some effects, samples, loops and there’s a drumpad for percussion.” He is currently working on his debut album, which is slated to release late next year.

In the video below, Dream Koala attempts to identify some of his favorite artists off a stream that we curated for him without the entire track being played to him and of course, without any details of the album or artist being revealed to him. To find out how the producer scored, watch the video below:

 Dream Koala will perform at Magnetic Fields Festival between December 12th – 14th at Alsisar Mahal, Rajasthan.