Interview with Cosmic Pop Artist Dontay Downer

by Ben Fitts

Prior to the pandemic, New York-based multi-instrumentalist Dontay Downer was busy as one of the main sidemen of alternative R&B singer Kevin Holliday. Downer was a regular part of Holliday’s lineup, both live and in the studio. He performed both guitar and bass on Holliday’s album Space Cadet, which has racked up hundreds-of-thousands of Spotify streams. But over the course of New York City’s sleepy, virus-ridden summer of 2020, Dontay Downer began tracking the instruments and vocals to A Void Full Of Color, the first album to be released under his own name. 

The album has been proceeded by the singles “The Source” and “The Scale”. The former single illustrates the album's poppier, synth-driven side, while the latter puts Downer’s impressive guitar chops and classic rock influences on full display. The remaining, yet-unreleased tracks from A Void Full Of Color alternate between and find common ground within the sonic spectrum presented by the album's two lead singles, forming the basis of Downer’s own genre, which he was named cosmic pop. Dontay Downer and I sat down to discuss his upcoming album, his work with Kevin Holliday, jamming with the guys in Blac Rabbit, and more. You can read the full interview below. 

Ben Fitts: Thanks for talking to me today. Can you start by talking about your musical background and how that affects the music you make today?

Dontay Downer: I started with recorder back in middle school, and then trumpet as well. From there I learned the basic theory as a young child in a music education program, so that was very sweet. But my main passion was wanting to learn to play guitar instead of these wind instruments so I ended up taking guitar less at this place called Boys Club Of New York, which was an after school program I used to go to. I got lessons there for a little bit, but then I had to go away for high school, so after that I taught myself everything from there.

As far as things I listened to that influenced my playing style, that would have to be a lot of classic rock because that’s what I first heard t as a young child. My grandmother would play it a lot in her car, and it was fucking fantastic. So I started listening to all those old rock bands, and my mom also played a lot of 90s R&B, so that was played in the house a lot. Old motown records as well since that’s what my grandparents listened to and my dad listens to a lot of dancehall music. So those were all sounds I heard as a developing child. 

But when I finally got the chance to form my own taste and gather my own music, like with mp3 players, or CDs, or iPods as well because iPods were coming out (thank goodness, I really love my iPod), I listened to a lot of older things. Anything from the 60s to the early 2000s, because anything after that I wasn’t too much into. I didn’t feel like many sounds resonated with me. Eventually I moved on to artists like Prince, Pink Floyd I was into a lot, I was into Green Day and My Chemical Romance and just a very sporadic group of artists that I really feel like made very nice music. When I got to college though is when my friend Adam introduced me to psychedelic music. He showed me Tame Impala for the first time, so I was a little late to that band. 

BF: Is that the same Adam who plays with Kevin Holliday?

DD: Yeah, Adam Manson. Shoutout to Adam because he’s a fantastic person. 

BF: I didn’t know you went to college with him. Did you all go to Wesleyan together? Kevin [Holliday] too?

DD: Yeah the three of us went to Wesleyan. The other guys did not. One went to Ithaca, and we recorded the first album there. He helped out with that. He engineered the sessions at this really nice studio in Ithaca. Be we [three] all went to [to Wesleyan] and were in the same year. 

BF: So how did working with Kevin come about? Was there a specific thing that brought you together as a group?

DD: No. Our senior year we had random classes together. In one class I saw he was wearing headphones and working on something on Logic. I was like ‘Oh you’re making music. That’s cool’. And I asked to listen to it and was like ‘I can add some stuff onto this’, and from there it’s been a working relationship of producing music. It’s been really nice too, it’s a good dynamic of bouncing ideas back and forth and really nice work so far. 

BF: Was it a coincidence that all three of you ended up in New York?

DD: No, we all live here. I'm from the Bronx, [Kevin] is from Brooklyn, and Adam’s from Westchester. So that’s pretty close together, thank goodness. If someone was off in California that’d just be so unorganized and hard to form logistics. 

BF: Since the pandemic, are you working with Kevin at all anymore? Do you have anything on the horizon or are you just waiting until things get back to normal?

DD: We were working on a bunch of stuff at the start of the year. Just a very large quantity of songs. After that, I decided to work on my own stuff instead. 

BF: What helped you make that decision to start working on your own stuff and not just on Kevin’s?

DD: I just wanted to have my own voice as an artist. To get my own sounds, and my own lyrics, and meanings and messages that people can parse through and listen to and enjoy for themselves. And I felt like it was just important to just have an artist identity too, because I have words to say and I feel like I’m quite poetic when I speak, so I might as well get it down in writing. 

BF: So how would you say your own music differs from all the music you’ve made with other people? 

DD: It’s the whole product of all the sounds that I’m imagining up. It’s its own body of work. It’s reflective of my currents and feelings on life. Just having it be a singular entity makes it different in that I choose what sounds go together, what effects to use at what times, how to automate things, what combinations of instruments. There’s no compromise I have to make because the only person I have to work with is myself, so I can just make a decision and that’ll be that. I feel like my soul is put into something that I can just produce from my own head.

BF: So you’re the musician and the only producer on A Void Full Of Color?

DD: Yes. 

BF: So how’s that different, doing everything just yourself? Does that feel like there's more pressure, or is it a sense of relief?

DD: No, it just feels like a different avenue of expression. I like working for other people as well because that’s a beautiful process and it’s very satisfying to play with a group of musicians who are all on the same page and on the same wavelength. I feel like it’s just a different approach to making music and it’s beneficial and also therapeutic and cathartic to do for yourself. So when I want to have a different mode of making this art, then that’s an avenue I’ll take at that point, but I don’t know if I like it better or worse than working with others because collaboration is also key to making a beautiful piece of music. 

BF: Is the album all finished?

DD: No, I still have to record a bunch of the vocals. But I just got a fancy new mic recently, so that’s really nice. So I’m going to see how that works, and then I’m going to mix pretty much most of it. So once that’s all done then I’ll be done. 

BF: Do you have a rough release date or timeline in mind?

DD: I’m trying to release it at the end of December. I don’t know if I want to make it the last day [of December], but that way I could procrastinate as much as humanly possible [laughs]. But it might be that, or if just too much of a workload or if something else happens in my life it might be a little later. I’m not on any label right now, so I don’t have any strict deadlines. 

BF: Will there be any other singles out before then?

DD: Yeah, I’m releasing one more. It’s called “The End Of Time”. 

BF: How does “The End Of Time” differ from “The Source” and “The Scale”?

DD: “The End Of Time” has more of a pop song structure in that it’s pretty much just intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus. But there’s also pre-choruses stuck in there, thank goodness [laughs]. That makes it westernized. I feel like it’s a more natural sound because there’s mellotron flutes on it. There’s mellotron flutes on the “The Scale” as well, but it’s a different flavor of it, and it’s also combined with a mellotron string section as well. And the bass is a sub-bass instead of an actual bass that I played, like on “The Scale”. It’s more bouncy, and it’s more hopeful of a track than “The Scale” is, and “The Source” is just like a fun track. 

I imagine playing it on a stage, but there’s a celestial object playing above the band and lights everywhere. I was imagining what sound a band like that would play in a space like that to sonically create that picture. So that’s how I came up with that. The feel is more like a happy vibe with all the synths just doing their thing. I’m labeling the album as a cosmic pop album, and I’m trying to make a new genre with that because that’d be really cool. 

BF: Does cosmic pop have anything to do with cosmic jazz artists like Sun Ra?

DD: No, I’m not influenced by Sun Ra much at all, because that man is absolutely crazy [laughs].

BF: Or other cosmic jazz artists. He was just the first to come to mind. 

DD:  No, no, no. That music is absolutely wild and mine is very concise. You can totally tell what’s going on. “The Scale” is in 19/4, but the “The Source” is in 4/4. 

BF: “The Scale” is in 19/4?

DD: Yeah, I counted it out, baby. It’s in 19. 

BF: Did you just write it and realize it was in 19/4, or did you set out to write in that time signature?

DD: I wanted to do a different time signature, but the drumbeat I ended up playing was four bars of four, then a bar of three. When I listened back to it, I was like ‘oh, this sounds pretty cool’. So I used that as the main drumline. Then I came up with the guitar chords and the bass line, and then the flutes on top of that, and then I wrote the lyrics. And then badda-bing-badda-boom. And then I put in a rocketship sound effect as well. 

I feel like [“The Scale”] is more of a soundscape-type project, while “The End Of Time” is more of a straight-ahead song. The lyrics are a lot more hopeful. They’re about just love, and time, and the passage of time, and being hopeful for the future. They’re the messages that come across in [“The End Of Time”].

BF: It seems like time and space are big themes in this album. Is there a reason that those are the themes you’re most interested in exploring?

DD: I was interested in exploring space and time because of existentialism, and spirituality, and the absurdity of how large everything is, but also how small things have to be in order to build life. So that goes along with “The Scale”. It’s the scale of the very small to the very large. The energy of the universe and the cosmos, and trying to put all of that into a sound that captures that feeling. 

Existence is all-encompassing. Everything else is going on at the same time, and everything is constantly expanding, and everything is constantly shifting and changing. Energy shifts and changes. Life shifts and changes. So that’s what I’m trying to put together.

BF: You mentioned the new single has just a synth bass instead of an actual bass guitar. Does it have a six-string guitar too, or is it all synth? 

DD: There’s a guitar in there for the solo. 

BF: But the other songs all feature you on bass, guitar, and synth?

DD: It’s very random with the songs, because they’re all different flavors of psychedelia. “The Source” was all synths. There’s no electric or acoustic guitar or bass on it. But the “The Scale” has electric guitar and bass on it, and that mellotron. So it’s a very classic rock sound, like King Crimson or The Beatles or anything like that. 

BF: You described the album as starting a new cosmic pop genre. 

DD: Or cosmic rock as well, for the songs that are more rock-oriented. 

BF: Cool. So if you had to define this new cosmic pop/rock genre you’re trying to start, how would you? If another artist was like ‘we’re going to play cosmic pop’ how would you tell them to do it?

DD: Capture the energy of the universe, man. You gotta probably take some psychedelics I guess and figure it out from there [laughs]. I want to say it’s about enlightenment though, because I don’t feel like anyone can truly achieve enlightenment. If you complete the journey, what do you do after that? That must be so boring. 

Since we’re on a journey of constantly learning, one has to learn what everything is about before they can take on cosmic rock or cosmic pop. That’s very pretentious of me to say, but I’m allowed to be pretentious because it’s an interview, baby!

BF: I saw you perform some of the tracks from the upcoming album live, singing and playing guitar along to backing tracks. Is that how you intend to perform the music from the album in the future?

DD: No, I definitely want to have a band. I can’t not have a band, that’s ridiculous. I’d be like Steve Lacy. That man deserves a band, because his music is incredible. But I’m definitely going to put together a group of people to play live, because I feel like that’s a more genuine experience and it’s beautiful seeing a bunch of people work together towards the same sound. It can be a lot bigger and more epic than just playing to a pre-recorded track, so at point down the line, especially when live shows can come back, that’ll happen. 

BF: You’ve talked a lot about your influences in general, but if you had to pick a few that specifically influenced your upcoming album, who would they be?

DD: Definitely Tame Impala. Definitely King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard. And I’d also say Prince and Hendrix. But Hendrix less so for the guitar playing and more so for what he was trying to capture in the afrofuturist form in designing those cosmic soundscapes. Like in “Third Stone From The Sun”. That song definitely inspired me a lot, because I was like ‘Damn, what the fuck! This shit is incredible!’. 

BF: You mentioned the afrofuturist movement. Would you say the movement influenced this album?

DD: Yes. Artists like Janelle Monáe definitely influenced me a lot as well because she is a very beautiful artist. The ArchAndroid is one of my favorite albums I’ve ever heard.” 

BF: What about afrofuturist authors, like Octavia Butler or Samuel Delany? 

DD: Octavia Butler is great. Parable Of The Sower is one of my favorite books. 

BF: Would you consider A Void Full Of Color a continuation of the afrofuturist tradition, or do you think it’s its own distinct thing that’s just influenced by it?

DD: I feel like that’s not up to me. I feel like that’s up to other people to decide, because I don’t want to impose that on myself. I want people to hear it and judge for themselves what they think it is. I know what I think about it, but seeing what others think is also a very enlightening experience. And that can definitely shape how I make future tracks as well. Because as much people like to say they don’t like to conform, Kevin Parker makes pop music now. If he did that in reverse, like if he made The Slow Rush first and made Interspeaker last, people would be like bruh [laughs]. Like, no. 

I have to gauge that, then I have to gauge how I feel as well. Like subjects and topics do I want to go on to the next project, because that’ll influence a lot on how I make the album. And then also spend time working with others as well. I’m working with a few of the guys in Blac Rabbit. They wanted to start a new project, so that’s cool. We did some synth stuff.

BF: Who’s Blac Rabbit?

DD:  Blac Rabbit are twin brothers, and they play in a band with other people as well. One of the people in this band; his name is Patrick Starr. His name is literally Patrick Starr [laughs]. 

BF: How did you meet this band?

DD: Amiri and Rah are the two twin brothers. I DM’ed Amiri to jam with him, because I saw he was another black guy who liked psychedelic music. I want all the way up to far Rockaway, with Adam [Manson] as well, and we just played with them. Then it was a long time because a whole lot happened, but we went back a few weeks ago, and then I went back for their birthdays. I brought them succulent plants for their birthday. They love plants, so that’s good. 

They’re really talented. Rah’s a very talented drummer, and a very talented bassist, and a very talented producer. His music’s incredible. Amiri’s music is also incredible, his use of synths is very gorgeous. His music is a modern take on synthwave and synth-pop. I’ve only gotten to work with Amiri so far, I haven’t gotten to work with Rah yet, but they have a cool studio setup in Far Rockaway. 

BF: That space station artwork that’s used on both the singles, I’m guessing that’s the artwork that’s going to be used on the full album?

DD: It’s going to be a very variation on it, but I wanted to keep a common motif. I could have also done other single art, I was having the thought of doing that, but then I was like nah. So just to get attention and solidify the image in people’s head, I stuck to variations on that one. 

BF: So where’d the artwork come from? Did you design it?

DD: It’s just some random artwork. A friend sent it to me. 

BF: Your friend made it?

DD: I don’t know. He just sent it to me and thought I’d like it. 

BF: Alright, thanks so much for talking to me! 

DD: Thanks so much, man. It’s been a beautiful time. 

You can listen to Dontay Downer's music HERE

Ben Fitts is a writer, musician, and zinester from New York City. He is the author of over thirty published works of short fiction, nineteen of which were later included in his debut collection, My Birth And Other Regrets. His music writing has been featured in such outlets as The Sludgelord, Pioneer Valley Underground, Metal Temple, and Asphyxium Zine, among others. He currently lives in Brooklyn, where he plays guitar in the indie rock band War Honey, makes zines, and puts too much hot sauce on everything.