Downtempo from Iain Howie

Iain Howie is a 26 year old producer and singer-songwriter from Vancouver, B.C. He is the younger brother of Tom Howie of Bob Moses. He has been active in the city’s underground minimal house and techno scene for the past five years. A couple years ago, after nearly a decade of producing dance music, Iain shifted his focus towards songwriting. The results can be found on his debut album Patterns, set to be released on June 11th.

Patterns was inspired by some of Iain’s favourite artists including Caribou, James Blake and The Beatles. It blends the tension building of house music with more structured songwriting. While the themes he sings about are quite personal, he believe’s a lot of them are universal.

“I’m singing about loss, anxiety and the technology pitfalls of society in today’s world. I’m 26, addicted to my phone/social media while living in the midst of a pandemic. It’s easy to feel anxious and depressed. I know I’m not the only one going through this. I hope my songs can provide some sort of solace for people that feel the same way.”

Ahead of the album release, he brings us a new single “Leaf Syndrome”. The track offers a taste of the artist’s songwriting panache in a reflective downtempo sound reminiscnet of his inspirations as well as European contemporaries such as SOHN and Phoria.

Commenting on the track, the artist offers, “This track is a reflection on my relationships and of being in the confused, purgatory state of being in love. I always think about how easy it is for me to give relationship advice, but once I’m in my own, I’m fucked. Emotions are flying high and I don’t think straight. That’s what the song is about. It also happened quickly for me… almost stream of consciousness. I just remember my intention was to write a decent pop song.”

Listen to Leaf Syndrome below

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