Born from years of separate musical paths, passions, skill sets and accomplishments, the highly revered stateside producers Johnny Foreplay, Apparition and Nostalgia have joined their powerfully creative forces to comprise the three-headed American dubstep supergroup, Ternion Sound. Originally connected through playing local events in their shared hometown of Minneapolis, the three like-minded and independently successful producers have been thoughtfully planning the launch of Ternion Sound behind closed doors for over a year now, which has just now surfaced through their debut two-track release with DUPLOC; DUPLOC021.
Ternion Sound’s first release combines the three producers technical experience, individuality and inventiveness to concoct a highly unique sound with a large emphasis on groove. The release’s A side, “Verify Me,” stands as an impossibly ruthless and sharply polished tune that boasts a consistent pace driven by loose and distorted frequencies. Conversely, its B side, “Yellow & Grey,” is commanded by high resonance, colorful atmospheres and a rolling trajectory. Possessing within its two tracks a highly multifaceted and versatile personality, Ternion Sound’s DUPLOC021 is wrapped up neatly within the group’s shared love for sound system culture.
Be sure to grab your copy of this dynamic release through Beatport, Bandcamp or Juno or stream it through Spotify. We were fortunate enough to catch up with the guys of Ternion Sound to learn more about their exciting new conjoined project in tandem with their debut DUPLOC release.
What would you say is the main connection between you three and how did you initially get in touch with one other?
Aric: Coming together as a new music project happened really naturally for all of us. We had all played a lot of gigs in the Minneapolis area, the same place where we all had grown up. I think we really got serious about starting a new alias around New Years Eve of 2017. Jack and Andrew were booked for a huge event called Snowta, and they invited me to join them for a back-to-back set. The set went fantastic, and we all agreed that we would really enjoy playing more shows together.
Why did you guys feel the need to establish an entirely new and separate music collective set apart from your individual aliases?
Andrew: After realizing that we had great energy playing together, we thought about how playing and producing together could make each of us better in what we do in terms of pushing each other and filling in gaps of knowledge we might have. I can confidently say that we’ve been working together now for close to a year and each of us have skyrocketed our personal production skill from the work we’ve done together as Ternion Sound. When we meet up, we listen to tunes that inspire us, take them apart, write and create sounds all in the same room. The energy to continue working as hard as we do comes from each of us at different times, when one person feels stressed, the other two pick up the slack and so on. I can also confidently say that without each of us in the group, there’d be no Ternion Sound!
Given the quality of these first few tracks, do you feel like the listeners have been sleeping a little bit too much on your individual productions prior to forming this supergroup or do you feel like the combination of your sounds blends together so smoothly as to really heighten each of your individual skill sets?
Andrew: Music ebbs and flows, interests and artists change. I think what we’re doing with Ternion is one thing and our solo productions are another. I’ll happily accept anyone who’s down with either.
Jack: Personally I haven’t released a lot of music under my other aliases. This is the first project I’ve worked on where I’ve come into it with a well-rounded skillset and plenty of organizational ideas and abilities to really start right. Previously I was always fighting with my desire to make more emotive, groovy, deeper music, because my old aliases were all about heaviness and distortion, so now I feel like I can flex a lot of production knowledge I’ve had over the years that wasn’t suited for my other projects. It’s much more free.
This next question is directed towards Andrew: your output is often on a heavier vibe, what attracts you to the deeper side of things that we’re hearing from this new project?
Andrew: The stuff Ternion’s been making and playing may be deeper, but it’s still heavy!
For me, I’m into anything with lots of sub bass and interesting sound design. I think that after a couple years of trying to make the noisiest and craziest sounds possible, it’s been nice to slow down a bit and focus on the groove. The deeper and more minimal side of bass music allows for all sorts of new ways for me to try interesting things, be it in the melodies, basses, rhythmic density or patterns, and it lets certain elements shine between the gaps.
Directed to all: With so much fresh music coming from the States lately, what do you think has triggered the American scene the last two to three years to focus more on the weighty side of the 140 BPM spectrum?
Aric: I think most people in the States were first exposed to the more mainstream, high energy kind of dubstep. After a few years of listening to that style, people began digging for more sounds out there and discovered all the UK classic dubstep originators. That’s where all the fresh, deep 140 influence is coming from. There’s also a bunch of amazing production companies in the states that book deep artists and support sound system culture. The shows that they throw have definitely influenced a lot of great artists to starting making deeper sounds.
Jack: I think it’s tough to pinpoint exactly what has been causing the shift. A lot of festivals like Infrasound Music Festival here in the Midwest have been giving a spotlight to the deeper side of things and because of this increased spotlight I think more people are hearing deep music in proper listening environments. When I was playing hardcore/techno raves and stuff in 2008, dubstep was always side room music, and deeper stuff was put even further in the corner, so I wasn’t really getting a good impression ever and I certainly wasn’t able to appreciate it on my home speaker system! Over the years I think that the music has made its way into better time slots and sound systems and that has given a lot of us better perspective on it. It’s definitely an acquired taste but I think it’s permeation into the culture is just helping it to grow on everyone.