Image via Imogene Barron // 

We catch up with one of the country’s biggest dance exports…

To make it a as a dance act in Australia is no mean feat. To stand out from countless producers from all parts of the country while piercing through the dominant genres of the Aussie soundscape? It can be next to impossible. But plenty do, so much so that they take their craft overseas to widespread acclaim.

Homegrown dance export HAAi’s (real name Teneil Throssell) journey is far more unique and serendipitous than your average producer however. Moving to the UK as lead singer/guitarist of psychtrio Dark Bells, it seemed that a life on the mic and in grimy rock venues lay ahead in the muso’s future. But as fate would have it, the chasm of dance came calling, thrusting her into the worlds of techno and house for a full immersion into the cosmos of groove.

And now, she emerges several years later as one of Australia’s biggest dance exports, knocking off a seemingly never-ending list of accolades and shows as if ordained by the powers that be. By HAAi’s own admission, there’s a touch of fate to her journey. But regardless of whatever spirits or waves of karma that have guided her journey, she’s put in the work, and it’s eventuated in her debut album Baby, We’re Ascending.

Call it experimental, call it mystical, but rest assured, we call it magical. Consisting 13 lush tracks bubbling with all the seasonings from the dance and electronic expanse, it’s an album for the dance purists out there; the ones who can appreciate everything from the experimental slow burn to the four-to-the-four heater with equal amounts of depth and understanding. It’s a love letter to the universe of dance as a whole, and luckily for us, it’s now out in the world today.

We caught up with the international export to chat about the new album, her recent trip back to Australia and our local dance scene. Check it below.

Thinking about your journey and your road so far, the word “serendipitous” springs to mind. So much has come about by chance, coincidence and of course, an infinite amount of grinding. But just broadly, do you believe in fate? 

100%. What’s really interesting is that I actually use the word “serendipity” so often these days, in terms of how things came to be with this album. So it’s quite serendipitous that you would say that [laughs]. But I think also, from when I moved from Australia to London to where I am now, looking back it’s a chain of some very serendipitous moments. So much so that I would ask myself, “if one of those links in the chain had not been there, would I be sitting here talking to you right now? Would I have made this record?” I feel like there are so many things that happened that really changed the course of the way that my life was headed.

And I am obviously eternally grateful for those moments. And I guess in a lot of ways… I feel like I sit on this fence halfway between thinking that a lot of it was really fate, but I’ve also learned to take ownership of my ability and hard work as well. I took a long time to get there. But now, I think I’ve got a little bit more confidence than I had maybe three or four years ago. A good balance.

Your journey has taken so many twists and turns through genre, continents and so on. And it’s brought you here to the eve of your debut album being released. How are you feeling?

I’m feeling really good. It’s really wild that it’s so close now. It’s something that I was working on for a long time. The world has done a 180 twice since I started it. I don’t think I’ve ever been as busy in my entire life as I am right now, but I feel so ready for it. Amongst all of these discussions based around the album, I’ve been building a live show. And now, just looking at my calendar every hour of the day, besides the six that I’m asleep, is filled to the minute.

But I’m so up for that as well. After having slogged it out in bands for so many years and working at three jobs to try and facilitate that, the fact that I get to do this and tour and make a living from music that I’m making is something that I’ll always be so so grateful for.

This record feels charged with years of experience, lessons and just a deep desire to create. Given that you were creating in lockdown, which leaves exposure to experience relatively limited, how did you find ways to make it feel so transportive? Or did you revel in the transportive nature of the creative process itself?

That’s a really good question. I feel like during that time everyone had their own experience, but I think collectively, the majority of us were having a really self-reflective time. There was so much uncertainty, and I think especially the bulk of my work is done in those states, that was my bread and butter, for my life and happiness in a lot of ways as well outside of my partner. Without having been taken away, there was so much time to sit and be like, “Well, what am I really doing?”

And because of that and because of not having any dance floors and things like that, and not knowing when they were coming back, it didn’t make sense to me to make music that was to be danced to.

I wanted to make something that felt a little bit more self-reflective, exposing and something more suited to listening to in headphones. You can still dance to it if you want. But yeah, even in terms of having my own vocals and guest artists on there, I wanted it to be something that people could really engage in rather than it being something for me to DJ.

You start the record with ‘Channels’ which is gorgeously glitchy and makes use of some really warbly synths. Emotively, it feels sombre, optimistic, pensive and slightly anxiety-inducing. Was that opener just you throwing paint at your sonic canvas? Or are there specific energies you’re injecting into it?

So partway through the pandemic and it was something that I always had suspicions about. I had an ADHD diagnosis, which was a really helpful bit of information to have about myself. Because it allowed me to remember situations that I’ve been in and be like, “Oh, okay. That makes sense.” ‘Channels’ for me was really a reflection of some days when I am feeling really hyperactive. That track sonically reflects how you can feel within the space of a short amount of time. Even in the way that it changes, especially because there’s no real-time signature to that whole piece of music or piece of sound, whatever you want to call it.

But I don’t know if you’ve ever seen… This is a bit of a weird tangent [laughs]. But there’s this little video of a golden retriever, that gets distracted by a million things within the space of ten seconds. Sonically, that’s what that song is doing, and I feel like it’s really honest about how I feel some days.

It’s certainly not something that I find to be… I guess it’s very environmental. But definitely not something that I find to be hugely challenging, either. It’s really helpful I think for me creatively because doing something like focusing on an Ableton session is something that I can really lock into because there are so many things going on there. Whereas, in general life, I’m not completely designed to do things that a lot of people are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDjCnwkOTdc

‘Human Sound’ is a really nice standout that strikes a real balance of vulnerability and mysticism, both through Kai and Obi’s vocals and the soundscape you craft. It feels that all three of you are saying similar sentiments, just through different mediums. What is the message of ‘Human Sound’?

I’ve thought about this a lot because both Kai and Obi are very good friends of mine. And Kai in particular was the first person on that track. And what I take from that, is I feel like I have a slightly different perspective because of the conversations that Kai and I have had about the kind of music that we love and about the queer black roots of techno and house music. And that was really what formed the basis of our friendship. I guess the crux of it is about that feeling of being in the club and how important that is for some people’s spirituality and freedoms, and just that incomparable feeling of being in a great club on a dance floor.

But for me, there were some deep undertones, but ultimately I feel like with any kind of lyrical music, once it’s out in the world, it’s really up to the person listening to it to have their own interpretation of it. And then when Obi joined, it was such a beautiful moment. Like we were in the studio and when Obi came in to record the vocal parts on ‘Purple Jelly Disk’, she just absolutely blew me away. And then I was like, “Hey, I want to play you this other thing that I’ve been working on.”’ And then, so I played her what was to become ‘Human Sound’ and then she just started humming along.

Also, because this was all recorded over the pandemic, when Obi came into the studio it was kind of the first time that you were allowed to have more than one person in a room. I don’t even know if Kai and Obi have met yet actually. But yeah, I’m really keen for them to meet because we’ve been working on the live show and I’m actually doing rehearsals with Obi today in what will be our first rehearsal together. So I’m so excited and I know that she’s excited to get on the mic again. It’s going to be great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zTBW9hugJs

That sentiment of bringing people together and community is also really important in dance music. Having done a lot of this record remotely, what’s it been like getting that influx of community again through live shows and rehearsals etc?

It’s extremely fulfilling. It’s interesting because I’m touring so much at the minute. So for instance, I was in Milan two weeks ago, and Italy’s only just opened back up like a couple of months ago and you can really see that in the energy of the people there, so much so that people are at these venues from doors. And it’s busy all night, every night. Like I remember I was playing there with Jon Hopkins and it’s quite a big venue and we just stood on this balcony watching everyone while the opener was playing.

It was just such a beautiful thing to see. It’s really hard to describe to people who don’t like dance music or who see it as a problematic thing that’s connected to drug-taking or whatever. I think when you really are exposed to seeing how important this is to people who might wait the whole week of their 9-5 for this event, I just feel so grateful to get to be a part of that. Everyone is just so happy to be together and to be celebrating. And yeah, it’s such a priceless feeling.

The record shifts and diverges plenty following ‘Human Sound’. Overall, it’s a dance lover’s dream. You touch on techno, house, breaks and so much more in the runtime. Is this a love letter to the dance genre as a whole?

That’s again, a really great question. I would say it’s very much a love letter to electronic and all of the different genres of dance music that I really love and that I sort of dialled back at specific points. Dialled back into something that was more of a listenable format, but 100%. And I think even in terms of the guests and stuff, it was a real nod to the music that I really cherish and have been a fan of for a long time. So yeah, I think calling it a love letter to dance music is a really beautiful sentiment actually.

You finish with ‘Tardigrade’ with this beautiful vocal line of yours and these ethereal synths and clashes surrounding it. It feels like a sonic personification of the album title and is a really nice bookend to the project. But I just want to know, is that song a completion of your ascension over the album? Are you still ascending? And what lies on the horizon for HAAi?

I think the ascension is definitely still there. I feel like in ending the album with that track, I wanted a feeling of relief at the end of a relatively chaotic record. But yeah, I don’t know if you notice at the very end of it, I haven’t actually told this to anyone before, but at the very end of that track, there’s a bit of space and then this really quick little break.

I think it’s about five seconds after the track finishes, there’s just this really chaotic bar that happens. And I feel like that was a bit of a precursor to so what I’ll be doing next, but it’s also just because I’m still a bit mental [laughs].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6dTCGhqfgM

Lastly, I’m sure you’re fully aware of just how on fire Australia’s dance scene is right now. It feels like there are so many amazing sounds coming from all across the country and the world is finally starting to wake up to all the talent we have. As a veteran of the dance genre who’s spent most of their dance career overseas, what’s it like to see your home country blossom so much?

This most recent trip back was really incredible. I learned about so many artists that I hadn’t heard about before. The Australian dance music scene is really thriving. And I feel like there is so much interesting music coming from home and there’s so much more inclusivity from when I left Australia 12 years ago and in terms of what was dominating festival billings and things like that. It feels like there’s a really beautiful community in Australia. 

I feel like that’s something that’s really changed over the last several years, is that now it feels like people are really saying, “Hey, we need this. We need our community to cast our net wider.” There’s so much interesting music happening. And like I said, even though Boiler Room and through the festivals that I played, I heard so many new artists that I’d never heard before. Purely because living overseas, you exist in this bubble of where you are, I guess. Now I keep in touch with so much more with what’s happening down in Australia. So I felt so grateful and so proud to be from there as well while I was back. Now I’m trying to champion homegrown artists as much as possible because there’s so much talent there. It’s really exciting.

HAAi’s new album Baby, We’re Ascending is out now. You can buy/stream it here.