Southern Shores is an electronic music duo based in Toronto. Jamie Townsend and Ben Dalton make music that’s transcendent, colorful, and confident. Taking cues from Scandinavian pop, their tracks are immersed in the sensory experiences of places real and imagined.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. We have day jobs, it’s true, but mostly we’re dreamers. Always dreaming a better life to come, more adventures, more romance. I guess we’re still children in that respect.
Describe your current studio or practice space. We live together in a tiny little apartment and our living room is where all things musical get accomplished. We’ve turned it into a fine little studio.
Tell us about your work process and how it develops. Our process is pretty loose and subject to change. Jamie handles the production side of things and I (Ben) put my ears to his ideas and experiment with chords, melodies. Together we develop a structure and the flesh out the idea until we feel it has sufficient magic.
What’s your absolute favorite place in the city/the world to be? Spain obviously. Is there any other proper answer?
What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? We’ve been working on a full-length record for some time now. The process has been challenging but that’s when you learn the most. We’re really excited for people to hear what we’ve come up with. We feel it’s a significant step forward for the sound. We’ve also just recently produced an unofficial remix we did of Popcaan’s ‘Everything Nice’ because we have been obsessed with his record. We were also caught up in the World Cup at the time which inspired us to make this.
Where is your favorite/ideal place to perform? Outdoors, at sunset with an incredible sound system.
What are you reading right now? Between the two of us we’re reading Proust’s In Search of Lost Time and Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov; you know light reading.
Top 3 favorite or most visited websites and why? Wikipedia because it is the source of all knowledge.
Slant Magazine to find good movie recommendations, old and new. The most recent movie we’ve fallen in love with (Jamie for the first time, Ben for the Second) is Jean Renoir’s “The Rules of the Game” from 1939.
When the mood is right and the DJ is on point, Boilerroom.tv is fantastic.
How has living in Toronto affected your music? Toronto has let us focus our attention and push the project forward. Rap is huge in this city and I dare say some of its rhythms may have seeped into our music.
What do you want a viewer to walk away with after hearing your music? Dreams, Aspirations, Inspiration.