Logic1000 is Ready for What Comes Next

Originally from Sydney and now based in Berlin, Beatport NEXT artist Samantha Poulter (AKA Logic1000) has triumphed in bringing her sapid and intuitive sound to dance floors everywhere since first debuting the project in 2018. With a handful of EPs and singles released via her Therapy label, along with remixes for the likes of Caribou, Lȧpsley, Major Lazer, and Skeleten, Logic1000 is one of the underground’s most remarkable newcomers.

When we last spoke to Logic1000 in October of 2020, she was gearing up to release her now critically acclaimed EP You’ve Got The Whole Night To Go. Now, almost a full year later, we checked in with Logic1000 ahead of the release of her next highly anticipated EP, The Sweetness Of You. Of course, a lot has changed for her since then — she even has a child on the way. We learn how her pregnancy helped inspire her latest work, the creative and personal bond she shares with her partner, her musical ambitions moving forward, and more. Check out the interview below.

Hey Samantha, how has your 2021 been? What have been some major highlights?

It’s been a pretty low-key year, to be honest. I haven’t played any shows, but I’ve released some music I’m really proud of! I have been pregnant for most of the year and I’m due to give birth next month. That’s a pretty major thing that’s happened.

You’ve got a baby on the way, congratulations! How has life changed for you since getting the news?

Thanks so much! It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster, we are so excited to meet our baby but the pregnancy itself has been really difficult. I’ve been vomiting for nine months with about four weeks of feeling ok in the middle haha. So that made it tricky to work, but we managed to get in the studio when I was feeling well, and just kind of adjusted my expectations a bit.

You’re more widely known for upbeat tracks, but much like Safe In Your Arms/You Love, your latest track, “What You Like,” is quite deep. Can you tell us a little bit about your collaboration with yune pinku, how you two linked up for the track, and the studio process behind it?

I really enjoyed working with Asha. She has a great ear for melody and I love her voice. We did the whole collaboration via email which is very 2021. Tom sent her the track and initially, we asked her to do a cover of a vocal, as well as something original as a second option. We ended up preferring what she wrote, so we rolled with that. There were a few changes that we needed and Asha was very responsive, she was actually a dream to work with.

You have a new EP on the way, titled The Sweetness Of You. What’s the story behind the record’s title, and how does the overall vibe of your new EP compare to your highly and critically acclaimed You’ve Got The Whole Night To Go EP?

I came up with the title when I was pregnant, and because I’m not a lyricist I wanted to inject some of what I was feeling into the EP. I felt so much love towards my unborn child and felt as though I was inspired by her presence in my body. That’s where it came from.

Read: Introducing – Logic1000

We’d love to hear more about the creative, musical flow between you and your partner Thomas McAlister (AKA Big Ever FKA Cop Envy). How did the two of you first meet and what are some words you would use to describe both your personal and artistic relationship with one another?

Tom and I met just over 10 years ago. I had a small shop and he was working in a store down the road. I walked past and noticed him and told my friend I thought he was cute. My friend encouraged me to go in the store and say hi, and the rest is history! From the very start we have been very in tune with one another and have very similar taste — it’s something that we initially bonded over. It was such a fun time when we met because Tom was only just getting into dance music and I would show him all the stuff I was listening to. Then all those years later Tom repaid the favour by teaching me production and DJing. He’s a wiz and a very patient teacher!

This year you were tapped to remix two huge artists on their album remix packages: Major Lazer and Caribou. Can you compare and contrast your approach to remixing these two very different artists?

When I approach a remix, I’m not really thinking about the artist so much, I’m more thinking about the specifics of the track I’m remixing and how I can put my spin on it. With the Major Lazer track the vocal hook caught my ear in a big way, and the groove too. With the Caribou track, I had the whole (amazing) album to choose from but I was immediately drawn to the piano riff in “Sunny’s Time” and felt drawn to rework it. Both were equally fun to work on, I really enjoy the process of remixing.

In your Mixmag cover story, you were quoted as saying “I’m always going to make music because it’s a form of therapy.” Can you name two records that have proven to be therapeutic to you this year and tell us about them?

Erika de Casier‘s first album, Essentials, is something that I’ve found myself listening to a lot this year. It reminds me of the music I grew up on and being so far away from home, it was really nice to have something new yet nostalgic to listen to. For similar reasons, I’ve also found Teyana Taylor’s The Album to be very therapeutic for me this year. The stand-out track on the album is “Wake Up Love.”

Do you have any personal and musical goals that you have set for yourself moving forward that you can tell us about?

I guess my personal goals are kind of intertwined with some of my music goals. I want to really embrace and nail being a working and touring mum. I plan to bring my baby on tour with me, and I know this will be inevitably very challenging, but I’m determined to make it work. I also want to get started on writing an album, it’s something I’ve thought about a lot for the past two years in lockdown, and I think I’m ready now and in the right headspace now.

Cameron Holbrook is Beatportal’s North American Editor. Find him on Twitter.