Pulses is Dominic Dumoulin and Patrice Tremblay, a DJ duo from Montreal due to play the Main Stage at Igloofest on Feb. 6. Sporting their signature dark sunglasses onstage during each performance, Pulses mirror their mysterious facade with equally hypnotic, entrancing, and minimalist beats.
Concordian: How does it feel opening the very last day of Igloofest?
Dominic Dumoulin: We were quite surprised and quite honored to open the night for Tommy Four Seven and Chris Liebing, which are people that we respect very much for a long time […] Personally I freaked out.
Concordian: That must be jackpot for you guys, right?
Dumoulin: It’s crazy. It’s just crazy. It’s unbelievable and it’s a great opportunity. So we just work hard to make sure we’re gonna kick some ass.
Concordian: How did you both get started, and was it always techno music that you wanted to pursue?
Tremblay: I’ve been playing drums since four or five years old, when I went to my dad’s practice room with his friends. Every time I came with him, I was jumping on the drums before they started the real jam. Maybe it’s what got me into the beat. I always loved music, but I always preferred dancing stuff. Anything you can groove to, and more than rock and roll. The first time I started producing was around 10 years ago, with a friend from Quebec City, where I’m from.
Dumoulin: The moment when I realized that music was something that I was attracted to was when I started playing trumpet in high
school. I played trumpet for a few years and played drums with a few bands with my friend. And the moment I started making electronic music was back in 2000 when I got my first computer.
Concordian: The tracks that you have are really out of this world. You really live up to your name.
Dumoulin: Personally, it’s impossible for me to make music that sounds like other stuff. And I tried hard to copy some stuff that’s already known just to improve myself as a producer. But I can’t, I just can’t. And when me and Patrice spoke about working together, it was clear to us that we wanted to make something unique.
Concordian: It must be challenging for you both to define your own music when everything seems to be labeled nowadays. Can you elaborate from your end as musicians?
Patrice Tremblay: At the end of the day, I mean over-categorizing music, it’s pointless. It’s just new terms to describe something. And sometimes the word doesn’t describe the music properly so I’m like, why don’t we just call that ‘music’, and if you enjoy it, who cares about the style. We’re just about having a good time.
Concordian: Where do you get your inspiration?
Tremblay: We take our inspiration from sangria, actually. Sangria is a complete part of the process.
Dumoulin [laughing]: But honestly, the only inspiration we have is to make stuff that we like, and we both like really well-textured stuff, like atmospheric. […] Every time people ask us, ‘How is it gonna be at your gig at Igloofest?’ Our answer is always, ‘We’re gonna bring you to Mars’.
This interview has been edited for length.
