Holly Lester has been making a steady but solid upward trajectory over the past decade.
Carving out her place in the world of house and techno with her signature selection of sounds that permeate between raw analogue jams, dreamy trance and swirling breakbeats paired with a consistent percussive energy, she’s come a long way since emerging from rural Northern Ireland to tearing up dance floors all across Europe as far as Tbilisi.
Alongside being a killer deej, she’s making waves with her labels Duality Trax and Terrazzo, and committed to campaigning for a better nightlife economy in Northern Ireland through her foundation ‘Free the Night’.
First and foremost thank you so much for taking the time to put this gorgeousssss mix together, can you tell us a little bit about the energy behind this mix, is there anything you would prescribe doing while listening?
Thanks so much for having me, I’ve been a fan of the series for a while so it’s really nice to be here!
This mix was made with peak-time club energy in mind - I really pushed myself to make something a bit more heavy hitting than my usual mixes, something that’s pretty representative of how my peak time sets could go depending on where I am. I suppose a lot of the time I am aware most people are just casually listening to mixes at home in the background, and because I’m also making them at home it naturally feeds into a less intense energy. But I just played a really wicked gig in Lausanne recently where I played a pretty heavy/fast set following on from the guys before me, so I’m still kinda on that vibe at the moment. It was one of those shows where I felt like I really pushed myself. It’s always good to have that challenge and be able to push yourself to the next level, maybe even a little bit out of your comfort zone at times, and I felt like I really did that at the weekend. So yeah, I think it’s a little taster of that energy.
Tell us about what’s coming up on your labels?
At the moment, I’m taking things slow with Duality Trax as I just put out a release by the amazing Aiden Francis and Matisa, we even had a little label party celebration last month in London - go check out the record if you missed it! There will be a super nice release coming out later this year from a fellow label head who has one of the most solid labels in the game right now, and has also started to make some absolute killer tracks. The remix is also from one of my favourite artists in the last few years, whose tracks always find their way into my sets. I feel like it’s shaping up to be a really nice record.
Me and Steff (my label partner for Terrazzo) are also working on TERRAZZOO4 right now which should appear at some point later this year too. One of the tracks is actually in this mix and I can confirm it has been working a treat on the dancefloor, it’s a killer. You can also check out our latest one TERRAZZOO3 if you haven’t already :
What genres do you enjoy playing out the most currently? Do you feel like your sound has changed significantly since starting or remained somewhat the same?
My sound nowadays sits somewhere in the realms of house, breakbeat and progressive, which is basically a more refined version of the sounds I loved in my teens, so in some way my sound has come full circle.
I found it difficult when I first started mixing in 2006 because I didn’t know what I wanted to play and loved so many different styles. I eventually settled on learning to mix house music because I had some really bad CDJs and it was easier with slower BPMs. So when I started out DJing in clubs just over ten years ago, I was playing mainly Chicago and detroit house, tech house, disco house and other variations of house. It’s always funny to look back on how things were and I’m glad that the whole mindset of sticking to one style has changed in recent years. Now it’s totally acceptable to jump from genre to genre, even to play some donk, europop, hard house or whatever, alongside some really underground music. There are no limits any more and for the most part, it is a good thing.
I’ve been getting into proper tech house again in the last few years and I’m buzzing about the influx of amazing modern tech house records coming out at the moment. So yeah, I guess it’s pretty nice for me to reconnect with this new wave of underground tech house and also delve back into some of the older classics that have stood the test of time. Also, I have to mention the incredible fusion of prog and tech house which has emerged in the last few years, I’ve heard a few people referring to it as cybertek - whatever it is, I’m here for it.
“It’s always funny to look back on how things were and I’m glad that the whole mindset of sticking to one style has changed in recent years. Now it’s totally acceptable to jump from genre to genre, even to play some donk, europop, hard house or whatever, alongside some really underground music. There are no limits any more and for the most part, it is a good thing. ”
What’s next for Holly Lester?
I’m super excited about my upcoming tour to Australia in June - it’s my first time ever going on tour outside Europe and also my first trip to Aus in general! So many of my favourite DJs and producers are from there so I’m excited to potentially link up with some of them and see whats happening with the scene over there. Apart from that, I have a remix that is due to come out later this year - it’s my first remix for a great label and artist so I’m very excited about that. As is the case these days, the pressing times have meant it’s been pushed back by quite a bit, so maybe I’ll have some other stuff out before then. Asides from that, my work continues in the background with my nightlife advocacy org Free The Night, that’s something that never really stops. If you want to check out what we are doing there, you can find us on socials at @freethenightni. We will be part of a special panel in June that will be recorded at AVA Festival for one of the biggest publications in electronic music - if you are coming to the festival, I definitely recommend joining for the conference bits on Thursday. In non music related things, I’ve taken up tai chi and it’s just so great, highly recommend for anyone who is shit at meditating and needs to be forced into taking some down time.