Growing up in Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool, electronic producer Joshua Leary has a story to tell that’s both inspiring and cautionary. After posting tracks from his debut mixtape, Kings and Them in 2011, Leary signed to Tri Angle records, resulting in its full release and the ensuing debut EP, Duga-3. However, within months Kanye West reached out to the then 23-year-old requesting beats for his upcoming album, Yeezus, at which point Leary was flown to Paris to work with the acclaimed producer and other seminal industry types.
Despite working day and night to produce material for the LP, Leary felt a strong sense of imposter syndrome, and when the ensuing hype became too much to bear, he opted out of the industry to focus on creating AV effects for festivals and live venues, including his highly successful TranceParty events. While continuing to secretly hone his productions, Leary has only now felt confident enough to restore his Evian Christ moniker and release his debut album Revanchist – a lush yet abstract amalgamation of mangled electronics and early trance music influences.
Your father was a trance DJ. How did he influence you?
“My dad was into keyboards and synths when he was a teenager and was really into Human League and Kraftwerk before he got into dance music in the ’90s. He DJed in bars and cafes and was into the era of Roland grooveboxes like the MC-505, had a Roland JP-8000 and was trying to figure out DAWs. I was only 11
