Montreal, QC-based producer and beatmaker, Liyon is back with a brand new single, “That Blew Me Up”. The single is from his upcoming debut EP, which is set for release in September.
The video for “That Blew Me Up” is directed and filmed by LIYON, and follows the narrative of the video for the song “Crashing Sides” and act as a prequel of the storyline. In a post-apocalyptic dystopian world, a scientist gone mad by the consumerism of the society creates a drug that can change humans into cyborgs. The visual aesthetic was inspired by over the top retro-futuristic action movies of the 80s’ and the melodrama of it, enhanced by the acting.
Check out the video below and find out more about Liyon via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Hey, my actual name is JD and my moniker is Liyon. After years of writing music behind the scenes, professionally, I started this project so I could have an outlet that was 100% driven by my own creativity. No revisions, no tight deadlines, just heartfelt songs driven by my own emotions.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.
I try to mix shoegaze, 90’s house, hip hop, and pure pop, to create my type of synth-pop. Like I said, I worked as a score composer so I feel like my style comes naturally cinematic, I guess.
Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?
I think that’ll wait for a bit, COVID styles. But I can’t wait to play shows again. My latest ones were in Montreal and Los Angeles, and I just loved getting back on stage. As for what to expect live… you never know, I could play solo, making beats, dj-ing, playing synth, and singing OR I could have a few people on stage with me, even brought a trumpet player once, I loved it. I feel a live performance should sound like what you hear on the record but with a little twist.
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
I guess if I had to choose it would always be the latest one I release, so “That Blew Me Up” would be the one. It really reflects some aspects of what we’re all going through right now as humans on this dying planet. BUT, this said, you can’t really know what my style is from one song, I think the spectrum of my mixed musical styles are better understood if you listen to more than one track :))
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?
Milk & Bone and Ralph would be bands that sound a little like what I do but I’m really all over the place, I’m influenced by 80’s and 90’s American and British music a lot (they’re my most relevant sources of inspiration.