Dominique Vijverberg, better known as Deeparture, is a melodic dj/producer from Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Steadily building a reputation for exquisitely crafted and well programmed melodic house and progressive sounds, Deeparture has already caught the attention of the industry's most celebrated names.
He released on labels like Weiter, FSOE UV, Get Physical’s sublabel Poesie Musik. You may know him from his ‘Control Room EP’ on Lane 8's This Never Happened imprint or his mesmerizing song ‘Rewrite’ ft. Rubenson on Eelke Kleijn’s Days like Nights. His last release in 2019 was ‘Disruption Protocol/ Royal Dutch E.P.’ on Colorize. This year new remixes are coming up for Tinlicker on Anjunabeats and for Lane 8, as well as an E.P. on Armada Electronic Elements.
He played at Pleinvrees and venues like de Marktkantine next to Guy J, Basis w/ Einmusik, Westerunie w/ Rafael Cerato and Tivoli Vredenburg next to Tinlicker.
His musical style can be described as uplifting, extravert, melodic and climax driven. A true blend of the emotional and rhythmic content of progressive house, combined with high energy build-ups and bass lines found in techier styles.
With support on his productions by the likes of Joris Voorn, Eelke Kleijn, Lane 8, Karotte, Hernan Cattaneo, Guy Mantzur and many others, the future looks promising for this aspiring dj/producer.
We are super glad that Deeparture accepted to have an interview with us talking about his current releases and moves in his promising career.
Dimitris: We're well into 2023 now, but it would be cool to let us know how 2022 was for your career. Which achievements or goals that you achieved are you proud of?
Deeparture: In short, 2022 has been a year of many highlights, but definitely also a year of rebuilding after 2 years of covid. I released a lot of work that I'm very proud of on some of my favorite labels. I've also managed to play a lot of great events as the world was starting up again around Februari and events were starting to follow through. I'm happy with the songs I released in 2022 and the foundation that I managed to lay out for the coming years.
Dimitris: Which music composition software or hardware do you prefer and why?
Deeparture: I've been working with Ableton Live for many years now and have no intention of switching. I started producing many years ago using FL studio, but haven't looked back after I switched. Ableton is just extremely flexible and easy to work with. It also has a lot great plugins of it's own that I use. However, I think all DAWs are extremely good these days and have developed over the years, so it's what you're used to. In the end it's all just work benches.
Dimitris: Do you prefer instrumental dance tracks or do you adore vocals?
Deeparture: I love both! A healthy balance in a set always works best for me. It's a shame though though that that there is such an emphasis on vocal tracks in electronic music though as they tend to be easier to promote and generally stream more. In that sense, appreciate very strong instrumental records that manage to carry a similar emotion as a vocal track even more.
Dimitris: Do you believe that artwork can attract listeners or record buyers?
Deeparture: It probably has some effect overal on the likelyhood of purchase, although not as much as during the era of CDs (and vinyl before that). These days, artwork is often connected to the label with some kind of consistency and a logo. The perceived quality of that has a huge impact on likelihood of listening or purchasing. People are more likely to check out a new artist if they see artwork with the logo from Afterlife or Anjuna then when they see a beautiful piece of hand painted artwork from an unknown label. Perhaps a bit of a business answer and not very artistic, but unfortunately how it is now haha. Having said that, I personally appreciate good artwork all the more as it radiates the entire 'effort' people put into it around the release of the music.
Dimitris: What, in your opinion, is an example of artwork which really elevates a music release?
Deeparture: I think that good artwork is part of a set of elements that's necessary to 'elevate' a release, so I don't have a specific example ready. Of course, the release needs strong tracks as well and a solid promotion plan, prior to the release and after. The lesser known the label, the stronger the music and the plan needs to be. Smaller motivated labels can often do awesome work in terms of promotion. With so much music being released every week these days, the chances of 'going viral' unexpectedly with almost no promotion has mostly diminished. It's never just one element that elevates a release, like just the artwork. It's a combination of the whole palette that I believe is a strong indicator of the success of a release.
Dimitris: How much time do you spend promoting yourself in your social media? Do you see this as an essential tool for self-promotion?
Deeparture: Social media is has two sides for me. One the one side, I really like that it's now possible to get to know your favorite artists so much better beyond the music than it was before. It's cool that I can share more about the process and myself throughout the development of my career. But of course, over the years the balance has shifted where likes and follows have become more important often than the music and performing itself. You need not just be a good performer and producer anymore, but also a good presenter and willing to share (nonsense) all day long haha.
Having said all that, of course it's an essential method to promote myself and to connect with fans of my music, sharing when new music is coming out, where I play and to occasionally showing a bit more of 'behind the scenes' of the process, which I do really enjoy. I especially perceive being able to connect with fans directly to be a very big plus. I probably spend a few hours a week on this, (including also mindlessly scrolling like most people, switching between social media and 9GAG..).
Dimitris: Do you have any technical tips in relation to your DJing or music productions that might help up and coming artists?
Deeparture: Spend many hours on your art is the biggest piece of advice I can give haha. And reference the hell out of tracks you like when starting to make music yourself. It will speed up the process of getting better a lot. There's no magic plugin that will suddenly make your tracks sound good where they didn't before so work on the music itself and don't worry about your collection of software/hardware too much at start. Finally, find a mode where you have as much fun as possible, have a steep learning curve and where you don't look at what others are doing more than necessary.
Dimitris: Is there a particular classic record that you would like to remix or rework in 2023, given the chance?
Deeparture: I'd love to remix a classic from 16BL, like Beat Organ or Deep In My Soul. Otherwise Paul Van Dyke's For An Angel? I could always just remake a version just for my own?
Dimitris: Do you believe that music genres or styles are still relevant today?
Deeparture: What is your opinion about hybrids and artists attempting to mix influences from various genres in their tracks? I think it's very hard these days to really label most music into a specific category. Of course from a DJ perspective it's nice to have some kind of reference when searching for new music on platforms like Beatport, but from a listener perspective it's almost impossible to label it accurately nowadays. Listeners/visitors often don't refer to genres anymore, but to specific artists or labels/collectives that they like. Depending on 'how deep' someone's knowledge about dance music goes, people call my music House, Deep House, Progressive House, Melodic House or Melodic Techno. Even these categories change over time and bring up different associations for different people. In that sense, everything has already become one big hybrid and I can only root for artists pushing the boundaries further and experimenting more with different genres. Sometimes it's a hit, sometimes it's a miss in my ears. In the end it's the great thing about music: It's very personal.
Dimitris: Finally, please tell us what you are preparing in the coming months regarding releases and performances in gigs/festivals…
Deeparture: I have several EPs that I'm finalizing at the moment with some very exciting new tracks, both vocal and instrumentals (more info on that soon) and the agenda is filling up nicely with cool events. Some I'm particularly looking forward to are Pleinvrees Festival and Luminosity Festival.
Thanks so much to Deeparture for this great interview.
Thanks to Greg Sawyer at Additive Music PR for arranging this interview.
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