INTRO
Born from the frustration, inertia, and ennui of trying to work together through the pandemic, London experimental lofi-folk-r&b trio DWEN recently shelved everything they had recorded over a near 3 year period in their windowless underground studio.
In the summer of 2021, they took refuge in a remote cottage in the British countryside to reinvent their sound with little equipment, no material, ceremonial robes, and a veritable hoard of high-grade hashish. The result was their ethereal forthcoming debut EP Leoht Farn, and here, exclusively for Come Play With Me, they dive into some of the gear used during those psychedelic recording sessions.
YAMAHA F310 ACOUSTIC GUITAR + D’ADDARIO NICKEL BRONZE LIGHT12-53 STRINGS
A good all-rounder acoustic with a full-bodied resonance on a budget. Paired with a set of broken-in D'addario nickel bronze light gauge strings gives a soft, warm and rounded tone - we wanted to bring out 60s/70s folk influences in making use of the acoustic guitar throughout 'Leoht Farn' and found this combo to add a naive sort of Nick Drake/Robbie Basho/Ted Lucas feel to things.
FENDER TELECASTER + LINE 6 FLEXTONE
We run the Tele through a Line 6 Flextone (a hangover from the very first "hardcore" band we were all in.) There's something quite nostalgic for us in the sound of this amp. The combination can be heard on 'Purple' is a good example of the sort of washed out-jangly-budget-Stone Roses esq EQ and reverb that gives the track a lo-fi psych/surf rock feel. - Fender Jazz Mexican Fretless Bass A slick sounding fretless bass for that unmistakable 80s jazz-pop cheese that we find ourselves having a bit of a soft spot for. Technically the fretless allows more expression and playfulness and for basslines to take centre stage, as in our EP track "All Devouring Dawn'.
ARTURIA JUN-6V
Due to our need to travel light while recording Leoht Farn, the Arturia suite of analogue-modeled plugins proved incredibly useful. We have a Juno-60 in our studio and could never replace it, but the 6V gets pretty close in sound with the right processing, it's great for that added warmth and depth under the live instruments.
GOODHERTZ WOW CONTROL
We use the Goodhertz Wow Control plugin to bring a bit of imperfection to our mixes, emulating knackered tape machines and the wow-and-flutter of warped VHS. Applying it to guitars, pianos and drums here and there. It's pretty convincing in replicating that familiar melancholic hauntology of imagined ‘70s/80s advert music and film scores if you want to go down that rabbit hole, but we always try to use it in subtle ways - just to fuck things up a bit, adding depth, motion and unpredictability to a mix.
Dwen’s debut EP Leoht Farn is released on 27th January 2023.
