Isaac Dunbar’s new EP ‘evil twin’ – out now – is a good ‘un.
Words: Sam Taylor. Photo: Harshvardhan Shah.
Up-and-coming pop star, and very funny chap on ‘the Twitters’, Massachusetts teen Isaac Dunbar is kickstarting a whole new era with his third EP, ‘evil twin’. A super confident batch of tracks that ooze with attitude and jaw-dropping twists and turns, it’s about “all of the emotions that make up the concept of love,” he explains.
Hi Isaac! How’s it going? What are you up to today?
Hello! I’m alright thank you for asking. I have to do homework and then get açaí packets from Trader Joe’s. I also have to record vocals.
Tell us about your new EP then – what inspired ‘evil twin’? It’s broadly about love, right?
My EP is about the two sides of me that conflicted during the culmination process of each song. The “evil twin” side of me wanted to flood the project with experimental, angry, and colder records, while the other side wanted to make melodramatic and lovey-dovey pop records, so I put the two together. I think the duality is really cool and breaks down the limitations of cohesiveness because that whole concept really brings me down sometimes.
How does this EP compare to your first two? The press blurb says it “kicks off the next era of Isaac Dunbar”?
This EP, I would say, gives you a better sense of the type of music I’m going to put out in the future.
When did you write and record this one, did you have to contend with social-distancing and whatnot?
I wrote and recorded this EP from July 2020-December 2020. On the records with other producers on it, a lot of the process involved emailing stems back and forth. It was honestly not a debilitating problem, just a challenge.
How have you found pandemic life so far? Have you used the extra downtime to pick up any new skills?
I really really do not like pandemic life at all. The one good thing that came out of this for me is a better sense of self, to be honest, I feel like I’m growing mentally at a rate that’s two times the normal for me. I’ve gotten into photography a bit too!
Has the upheaval of normal life impacted the kind of music you find yourself wanting to make?
Yes. A lot of the music on the EP is me longing for something. During the pandemic, I feel like we all just long, in every aspect, and it shows in the second half of the EP for sure.
Has putting together all these EPs been good practice for an album, do you think? How are you feeling about a longer release?
Yes. I have a better sense of what works and what doesn’t in regards to sonics, songwriting, and production for me. I have a better sense of who I am as a writer and what my message is, I have a better sense of personal style… so yeah. I mean I’ve always wanted to make an “album”. Just gotta wait for the right time.
Do you have many plans locked in for the rest of the year?
To be honest, no. Not until Covid is over. I have a lot of plans in regards to releasing more music, though!!
Taken from the March 2021 edition of Dork, out now. Isaac Dunbar’s new EP ‘evil twin’ is out now.
