Dot Major

Throughout his career with London Grammar, Dot Major’s love for underground dance music has been an informing factor in the group’s sound and his long-running and — until now — private solo music. In co-founding the group while studying at university in Nottingham, alongside vocalist Hannah Reid and bandmate Dan Rothman, Dot Major drew from his Guildhall training in classical piano and his passion for electronic music to assume the role of multi-instrumentalist.

Moving between modular hardware, keys and drums, he experimented with organic instrumentation and computer-centric beats, warping studio and live techniques to help create the group’s tender-yet-punchy sound.. And as the band shot to stardom, Dot Major started collecting modular synths to develop his solo material. “Getting into synths is like getting into tattoos,” he jokes warmly from his studio, which is packed with machines, wires and blinking lights. “You’re not sure about the first one — but once you start, you quickly end up with way, way too many of them.”

In the past few years, Dot Major’s solo identity has blossomed. A BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix, broadcast in 2021, showcased his taste in deep house, pop and techno; his remixes as London Grammar morphed into solo bootlegs, which he folded into his Essential Mix and work-in-progress electronic sets. Fusing DJ turntablism with synths and drum machines, he took a leap of faith in late 2022 and performed at flagship London mega-club Printworks, alongside 2 Many DJs and SG Lewis.

The performance was a revelation for Dot Major, and gave him renewed confidence in his new collection of songs. “It’s a different way of thinking, a big departure from traditional songwriting,” he says of writing the material, “but the fundamental thing that binds my pop songwriting and my electronic production is melody. When you see how a song can translate across continents, or how children will sing a tune before they can speak — it all comes down to the right melody.”

Drawing on his starry years as part of London Grammar, and inspired by British producers with ambitious live shows — from ’90s icons The Prodigy and Orbital, to the crunchy house and techno of Overmono and Bicep, and the sparkling experimentalism of Floating Points and Ross From Friends — Dot Major’s sound in 2023 is a hypnotic, loop-based exploration of soaring melodies and upbeat club music.