By Ella Woszczyk, Deputy Editor
Bristol-based Drum and Bass artist, A Little Sound, has captivated audiences with her recent success. Starting out at age 11 by uploading covers on YouTube before completing a songwriting degree at BIMM Music Institute, A Little Sound has worked with the likes of Kanine, Friction, Technimatic, Hedex, Rudimental plus many others. She commenced a new chapter in her career this September 2023, joining the Ministry of Sound on an exclusive recording deal. The first single, 'Back to Back (B2B)' was released October 13 and can be listened to on Spotify.
We began our conversation by talking about her early music career as an acoustic performer and why she made the transition to Drum and Bass. She explains: ‘I was always writing acoustically, like piano or guitar – I enjoyed what I was writing but I felt it was never received that well on the other end. People always said I was a good song writer but I didn’t really feel that myself until I found the Drum and Bass side of it.’
‘Whilst at Uni I was doing open mic nights, I was recording my covers - which at raves then turned into more Drum and Bass covers – and yeah it was weird, a girl I went to Uni with just said “oh there’s a producer called Gray, he’s one of my housemates and he’s got this Drum and Bass track, do you want to try writing to it?”’
‘So I gave it a go, I wrote it on guitar and then sent [Gray] a voice note, and he made the track just around the voice note - and do you know what, I was like that actually sounds really cool.’
Continuing our conversation, A Little Sound explains how around the same time frame (before her song with Gray was even released), Kanine and Technimatic both discovered some her YouTube covers. When I proposed how exciting that must have been, she says: ‘Yeah it was mad! The whole time I was like do you know what, I don’t think posting on YouTube will do anything for me, but now I just say post the video regardless of whether you think its going to be seen.’
‘I wasn’t even getting a massive reach at all – I might only have a thousand views but that one view was really important. They really helped me gain that initial audience.’
Moving on to talk about some of the festivals she played at over summer, our chat turned to Boomtown 2023. Sharing our disappointment over the Prodigy’s last minute cancellation, A Little Sound acknowledges that it meant she got to perform her set after Shy FX’s – who was brought in as a replacement artist.
‘You know, I played after Shy FX - luckily had his crowd, but then to actually have the people stay was the decider for me that these people are enjoying it and are here for me.’
@alittlesounduk This summer had no right in levelling up so hard 😭💫🔥⭐️ #dnb #drumandbass #alittlesound #boomtown #festival #rave #shyfx ♬ Twilight - Gray & A Little Sound
Sharing the amazing turnout on her TikTok, you can also find a video of her jumping on stage with Hedex for their Sunday closing performance in front of a crowd of 30,000 festival attendees. When asked whether this was a spontaneous collaboration, A Little Sound explains: ‘I’d been doing it at a couple of festivals, we seem to be playing at most of the same events and I think we are into the future to be honest, but yeah he did reach out a couple of days before saying “I’ve got about 5 special guests, would you like to be one of them?” – it was just the cherry on the cake really, especially to see the crowd in the daytime and then see them at night with all the lights and fire and everything, it was so cool.’
Turning to A Little Sound’s progression into DJing, she explains how in lockdown her and her boyfriend ‘decided to buy the smallest controller and genuinely do it as a joke.’ She recalls their self-proclaimed ‘horrendous’ covers on Twitch and TikTok with a whole community ‘watching us fail. That’s what feels so amazing about my journey is that people can watch from right where it started – which I think makes it a little bit more relatable.’
She feels that lockdown had a massive impact in growing her fan base as it saw her TikTok grow to around 80,000 followers. ‘Once TikTok and the music combined, that’s when it became really positive so that when I did play the live shows, I already had quite a nice fan base supporting me.’
A Little Sound’s music may have been completely different without the influence of Bristol, where she became an established part of the esteemed Born on Road crew, a Bristol-based music collective firmly rooted in the heart of Drum and Bass and Jungle. Though recently signing with Ministry of Sound, A Little Sound praises the support given by Born on Road: ‘They never put pressure on me – [and] I think that’s why I respected them so much. They mentored me throughout my whole journey until my new management reached out.’
She explains the significance of one of her earlier singles, ‘Lakota’, named after Bristol’s legendary underground venue. Describing it as one of her ‘more emotional [and] meaningful tracks’, she tells Epigram that she met her boyfriend at Lakota 5 years ago at a Technimatic concert. ‘Yeah its actually a really nice story because It was new year – and he was only back in Bristol for Christmas, and we bumped into each other when Technimatic were playing in the main room. When Technimatic reached out to me about working on a tune, I thought what better thing to call it than Lakota.’
In wrapping up our conversation, Epigram asked A Little Sound which song they would recommend for first time listeners. ‘Hmm, that’s a tricky one. Probably “Twilight”. Vocally it feels like one of my strongest. I don’t normally belt and that’s the only one I’ve belted in. I just think its feel good but it also links with the rave scene and festivals and you know, that feeling. So I think that one definitely kind of shows me as a person.’
With hopes of one day moving back to Bristol, a city which means a lot to A Little Sound, Bristol’s students should keep a watchful eye out for this multi-talented musician, for she can only get louder.
Have you listened to A Little Sound?
