Blue Hawaii, Arbutus Records and many of their Montreal counter-parts all began with the same breath in early 2010. The duo, Raphaelle ‘Ra’ Standell-Preston and Alex ‘Agor’ Cowan notice that throughout the changing social and personal landscape which is one’s twenties, these divided notions and people somehow stay together.
Even the name, Blue Hawaii suggests a kind of melancholic, jaded paradise, but a paradise afterall. It is because – or perhaps in spite of – these disjointed intersections that the record is called Untogether.
What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? Ra and I are making a free mixtape of Blue Hawaii live stuff. It’ll be fun, definitely heavier than our recordings, with a strong focus on dance floor ability and some new material too.
How did your interest in music begin? Most aptly, when I first started driving when I was 16. Punk and Classics or in the back of Dad’s car after he bought “The Sign” by Ace of Bass.
How has living in London affected your music? Yeah, moving to London has been very inspiring. We are both planning on spending time here, tho it’s not quite home yet.
If you had to explain your music to a stranger, what would you say? Electronic Pop <— very creative there.
What kinds of music is influencing your work right now? At the moment, it’s modern Hip Hop more than anything, specifically rachet style. It’s just the grooviest thing.
Do you get fan mail? What’s been the most exciting thing you have received from a fan? There was this one day in the spring, when our manager received like 20 or 30 messages all from different people around the world, asking for our autographs. He made us do the first one but after a while, I got suspicious and tipped him off because it was probably a scam.
What was the last show you went to that stuck out to you? FKA Twigs, I guess. The way the three band members speed up and slow down their playing samples on those drum pads is totally unique. It achieves the same thing as really far out production — but is a step above because it’s not a sound you can recreate easily. Also, her vocals brought things together time-wise.
What is your beverage of choice when recording? Coffee, duh.
What do you do when you’re not working on music? Traveling, always.
What are you listening to right now? Allan Watts.