GET TO KNOW : Emerson Long

Melbourne’s Emerson Long is here to ensure that, wherever it is you are in Australia right now, your summer isn’t even close to being over, thanks to his new single ‘Heatwave’.
It’s one of a number of songs the producer has ready to roll throughout 2016, so we thought we’d kick the year off by inviting him to be a part of our latest Get To Know feature.

01. Name : Emerson Long (also known as Long Cheng in my day to day life).

02. Where are you based? My hometown of Melbourne!

03. How did you get your start in music? I actually didn’t have an interest in music until very recently. Long story cut short, something crazy happened that gave me a huge urge to try my hand at music, so around my 21st birthday I started to dab around on some programs. Prior to this I had only “played” guitar during high school (I knew like 6 chords and read tabs) so it was very slow starting out.

04. Tell us a little bit about your sound and how it developed. At first listen it might seem that I don’t have a “sound”, because every track I make is so different (especially a lot of my unreleased material). I think my “sound” is kind of hard to describe because I don’t tend to stick to the same instrumentation or genres between my tracks. But it’s there and maybe it’s up to listeners to figure out what it is that ties my music together.

05. Who have been your musical influences? Flume has been one of the biggest influences for me as a producer, in how he uses such different and contrasting sounds to create something cohesive. Other than that, I actually think that acoustic singer-songwriters are my biggest influence. Also on the topic, Flume included a producer disk on his deluxe album which really helped me starting out, so if you’re reading this Harley, thank you! (pls collab with me).

06. What are your favourite songs of all time? ‘Atlas Hands’ by Benjamin Francis Leftwich (also pls collab with me), ‘Get A Life’ by Little Red, ‘You & Me’ by Disclosure (Flume Remix).

07. Give us a little fun fact about yourself that people might not know. One of my favourite shows is ‘Antiques Roadtrip’. Everyone always tries to correct me and say “you mean Antiques Roadshow” but please, that’s a different show. Basically what I’m saying is that I’d probably get along with your grandparents.

08. What’s the best advice you’ve been given in your career? Always do what you’re afraid to do.

09. Tell us about your latest release. ‘Heatwave’ is a tropical, drink in hand, beach volleyball summer track that I hope brings some summer to my listeners, no matter where they are in the world.

10. What do your future plans involve? I’ve got a few interesting tracks to finish off, and I also want to spend some time and develop my live set.

11. Where can our audience catch you live? I’ll be playing at the Roar Music Festival in Dubbo on the 9th of April alongside some great Australian names like Hayden James, Tkay Maidza & Slumberjack so check it out!