RUNNING OUTTA TIME by Chuey – a dark, dionysiac dance track

Three weeks ago saw the release of BRINGIN DISCO BACK, the first single off of Chuey’s upcoming EP DIPTYCH. Now, here we are with an exclusive pre-release review of RUNNING OUTTA TIME – the second and most highly anticipated single – AND an interview with the man himself where he talks inspiration, creative process, and his infatuation with Tom Misch.

When I listen to music, I see images – scenes my imagination has conjured up, a visualisation of what I’m hearing – so to begin, I want to describe what I saw when I first heard this track. 

It’s a late night and you’re in a club, a basement or boiler room type. There are strobe lights bouncing off a disco ball, illuminating people dancing for brief seconds before flashing away, and the room is filled with the kind of darkness where everything seems a little blue. It’s hot and sweaty (in a fun way) and sexy, but you have this sense of… not urgency, but of time running out somewhere…

RUNNING OUTTA TIME is a dark, dionysiac dance track – not just in terms of its content, but sound. There’s this sense that you’re hearing everything underwater, drowning as the music washes over you, but (ironically) there’s no desperation to escape. The song is very much an experimentation in digital form and, as Chuey is our genre-mashing master, there are elements of EDM, nu-disco, synth-pop and trap interwoven all throughout to create something eclectic and addictive. It’s the darker, more adult sibling to the first single BRINGIN DISCO BACK, which is far more of a funky, upbeat, electronica nu-disco vibe.

The track starts out with this trap-inspired beat and layered Jacob Collier-esque vocals which tease and pull at the listener, telling them off for being all talk and no bite. The vocals here are flirty and a little taunting, and from listening to them it is so evident how much fun recording this song was. This sense of joy is carried in all the elements of the track, and it gives you a wonderful, moreish feeling when listening to it – in spite of being a fusion of some overwhelming and dense genres, you could absolutely listen to it on repeat. 

The chorus is melodic and earwormy, launching into something more EDM-adjacent – the repetition of “you got me running outta time” and the instrumentation is hypnotic, drawing the listener in slowly and warning them that they’re running out of time to recapture his attention.

The heavy electronica breakdown in the middle of the track – almost like a house remix – is incredibly satisfying to listen to (living up to the title “certified serotonin supplier”). The abstraction of the vocals and the melody that is both fast-paced but incredibly detailed creates this atmosphere of something simultaneously overwhelming and delicate. It’s a perfect example of Chuey’s ability to craft sounds that are riveting and beautiful in a way you wouldn’t anticipate – the more you listen, the more you hear. 

All of a sudden there’s this light, bright keyboard solo complemented by the sound of deep breathing – bringing to mind the image of stepping outside the club for a breath of fresh air – before we jump right back into the pre-chorus for another round. 

For such an ambitious crossover of so many genres, Chuey has managed to manoeuvre all the elements together in a way that makes perfect sense; the synth, the keyboard, the percussive elements and the vocals dance around each other to create something rhythmic and sensual and cohesive. In other words, it’s an absolute banger and you should all stream it on its release tomorrow.

Now to hear from the man himself…

Q: So, what was the inspiration behind this track? Are there artists whose work you drew on, or is this all you?

Ahaha, definitely not all just me! I think inspiration for me is always small fragments (usually subconsciously applied without me even realising) of many different styles and sounds that I’ve absorbed over the years. In this case, there was one specific sound that this song has strong ties to, and that’s Skrillex and Noisia’s track/remix of “Supersonic” by Dylan Brady & Josh Pan. There was this one particular gritty synth sound in that track (specifically 0:56) which I was just absolutely hypnotised by, and so during the making of this track I tried to make something similar sounding which you can hear at 1:16 in ROT (RUNNING OUTTA TIME). 

Q: What about other artists who have influenced your writing, more indirectly? 

In terms of some other indirect influences (more subconscious applications) some of artists that I was very enthralled by during this period of writing were Moore Kismet, Virtual Riot, Cadofox, a little bit of Jobim and Joao Gilberto’s Bossa Novas, and a bit of Jacob Collier for vocal inspiration. On the topic of subconscious applications, it was really interesting hearing many of my close friends who I had shared this song with say it sounds a bit similar to a Kpop tune when funnily enough I had not been listening to any Kpop during that period of writing (it would’ve been probably months ago since I listened to some DEAN and Crush hahaha. Plus, it turns out I also basically took the exact same phrase in almost the same delivery as Tyler the Creator’s Running Out Of Time without me realising till I had finished the track (whoops…). It really seems like by writing this song I had pulled certain sides of me that I didn’t even realise I had such strong connections to!

Q: Is there a creative process you follow when writing music, or does the moment / inspiration just strike you sometimes? 

Since I’m a pianist, a lot of my ideas and processes start on keys. Other times however sparks might happen during sound design sessions, making drum grooves and very rarely when I’m noodling on guitar or bass. When it comes to the actual writing process, sometimes I’ll have days where I sit down in front of the piano with the goal to write something and sometimes I’d be noodling before something suddenly takes shape. It’s during those moments when I would most likely record it down on my phone and bolt to my desk to try and re-record everything into Ableton. As soon as it’s in there all hell breaks loose. I always end up trying to write too many sections at once and it gets very cluttered, but in the end I guess it works out? But anyways yes, there is a creative process but it is very much all over the place hahaha I have a lot of areas I can pull ideas from! 

It’s really funny ’cause for ROT I genuinely started this track almost by accident. It initially began on my OP-1 (which is this little musical sketchpad type synth/device that I had only just recently bought) and was just messing around on the synths to get a feel for it before something just suddenly came to me. It was only after I had the base foundations of the track when I noticed that the tone and atmosphere that I had made seemed to work well with this “Supersonic” sound I had been thinking of attempting for a while, which later became the centrepiece in the drops of the track.

Q: The new EP – how does it differ from your previous music, content / sound-wise? From this track and BRINGIN’ DISCO BACK it sounds like you’re moving into something a lot more electronic etc. 

I think the most important thing I have to state about this new EP – ‘DIPTYCH’ – is that whilst it aurally comes from a wildly different space to my previous EP – ‘TABLEAUX‘ – they are both thematically connected. Both EPs converge around the themes of Water (‘DIPTYCH‘) and Air (‘TABLEAUX‘), which are some main auditory ideas that I will continue to explore in my future works as they both have underlying meanings that would be a bit excessive to talk about in this, ahaha.

‘TABLEAUX‘s EP concept revolves around the French art form (of the same name) of static living images, where in this case each track depicts a certain scene. It also pays homage to one of my favourite romantic composers, Rachmaninoff, who I used to play a lot of – and one specific influential collection of pieces aptly named ‘Etude Tableaux’.

So yes, Diptych proceeds to expand upon this idea with digital icons instead, almost presenting itself as the modern Tableaux “computer-fied”, with more electronic elements and influences as you mentioned. One unique idea I tried to implement in this EP to solidify the Diptych concept is that each track from Diptych contains motifs from its “sister track” of the same track position in Tableaux. Furthermore, when both EPs are played together in the right order, it forms one seamless play that ultimately fulfils the title’s name, Diptych. 

As a result of the wide variety of styles I enjoy writing in, I had to find a way to be able to form one work that encompasses most of my current “signature sound”, almost like building blocks for my future works (almost like a prologue to my music to come). Tableaux focused very much on my pop, songwriting-focused ideas – you could say the sound that I had become more interested in recently in my life – while Diptych is my return to form, which is why you’ve noticed the more electronic sound choices. Electronic music was why I started producing in the first place, and was what I was writing when I started almost seven years ago, albeit now a lot more developed. Even with this, I still haven’t explored my other strong interests that hopefully will be done in the future – ballads, classical works (I started off writing classical compositions aged twelve under the guidance of Richard Gill AO), jazz compositions and film scores!

Q: You already have such a distinct personal sound that’s made really evident throughout your discography – and yet you’re so young. How have you been able to establish that so early?

I really appreciate that, especially with the wide and eclectic amount of styles that I have interests in, I’m relieved to hear from others that there is still some sort of cohesion and an “artist voice” that I’ve been able to start forming in my early stages of my career. I think a lot of my “distinct” personal sound that you have mentioned is very much as a result of the environment I grew up in musically. Whilst my mum and dad weren’t professional musicians, my dad picked up piano, guitar and drums as a hobby, but never really explored it as much as he would’ve wanted to (he passed away early on in his life – I was eleven), and my mum has a keen ear and a sense of musical intuition, so I like to think I’ve inherited a bit of that.

On top of being pushed to learn piano at an early age of five (AMEB LMusA High Distinction at fourteen, currently in my third year of Jazz Piano at USyd), classical composition lessons at age twelve as well as my own explorations of music production, this definitely provided me with the necessary skill sets and technical ability to more easily explore personal ideas with a large palette of expression.

My musical influences were also largely affected by the wide range of music that I was introduced to at an early age; my mum would take me to watch many operas when I was young (Carmen, La Triviata, Madame Butterfly, etc.), and we listened to lots of classical music. My dad loved 80’s and 90’s music, my Grandma used to blast old Mando-pop classics, my brother had an interest in jazz (Bill Evans), modern pop (Coldplay, etc.) and disco music, and I was really into dubstep and electronic music when Skrillex, Martin Garrix and Virtual Riot were making names for themselves in the scene (and my later obsession with Jacob Collier and jazz). Ultimately this all became a ginormous melting hot-pot of sounds and cultures that form the sound of ‘Chuey’ today. It’s not one style – it’s one too many – and then when you thought that was it… one more!

Q: Are there conscious things you have done or things you have learnt to create that, or was it just natural? 

In terms of conscious decisions I think one of reasons why my music might be considered to have unique sound is that I tend to utilise very similar effects processing and certain signature samples that I use in almost all my tracks (one of them being a recording of my parents broken cassette tape player which actually was initially influenced by Virtual Riot in his song Chop Chop at 1:32). Another one is a short motivic idea stole from Count Basie (e.g. Shiny Stockings at 2:39 & also 3:12 – the little ‘bling-blong’ bit in the piano) which initially started off as musical inside joke for my jazz major friends but has now almost become the “Chuey producer tag” for me.

To close though, I definitely don’t think I have completely developed my unique voice; as you’ve mentioned, I’m still young and I still have so much more to learn. My sound will inevitably morph and stretch and change, but that’s something that I embrace and hopefully others who follow along with me will as well.

Q: Any last words for our readers (or I should say, your fans)?

Okay so, back at Conservatorium High School in Year 12 for a final hurrah before the HSC, I decided it would be fun to produce a track and get everyone in my year to participate (we had a very small cohort, 30+ something people). After I had produced the track, I had sent it over to my producer friends to have a listen. After much nervousness waiting for a response, he sends back a video. On the video he proceeds to play a Tom Misch song over my track AND IT TURNS OUT IT WAS LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME. The kicker is, THIS HAS HAPPENED MORE THAN ONCE. I guess I was so infatuated by Tom Misch’s music back in high school that so much of my older music ended up just sounding exactly like his music without me even batting a single eye. Shit was wild LMAO.

Chuey’s new single ‘RUNNING OUTTA TIME’ comes out March 10th, 6am – presave here!