“I call the vibe,” Adrian Dzvuke pauses, smiling: “Heartbreak in the club.”
Has the singer-songwriter dreamt up a new genre for his new EP, Now That It’s Over, that encourages people to cry their eyes out on a sweaty dance floor? Sounds cathartic.
Before you venture out on a Saturday night with tissues in tow, though, Dzvuke clarifies his album — written across Toronto, London and at home in Perth — balances raw lyrics and heart-pulsing beats.
“This new EP is probably my most honest music,” he tells STM.
“The title kind of speaks for itself but it’s about that feeling of going through a relationship that ended and reflecting back on that. All the raw emotions you feel, whether bad or melancholic or nostalgic.
“Mixing those emotions with hard-hitting dance-inspired, afro-house music is the vibe of the new project.”
The Perth-based artist brings his whole self to the seven-track EP — his third and the final instalment in a trilogy — drawing from his culture, his upbringing, and his deep-rooted love of rhythm and connection.
There’s the nod to his formative years in Zimbabwe where every Sunday his family would attend church, the gospel music never failing to get the congregation on their feet. It was there Dzvuke first stepped into the spotlight, filling in for a missing drummer while his dad played piano beside him.
Lyrically, the EP is raw and reflective, taking listeners on a journey through heartbreak, identity, and emotional growth. It captures everything from denial and anger to longing and acceptance.
Musically, it’s a genre-blurring mix of house, R&B, amapiano (a South African music genre), Afro-house, UK garage, and baile funk. With his smooth vocals, synths and unexpected touches (Dzvuke says the flute in song Ce Soir is a highlight) it’s heartache you can dance to. Which is something Dzvuke taught himself to do as he turned his personal pain into a creative process.
“I was going through these feelings in real-time and the vision for the project was unveiling as I was progressing,” he says.
In terms of inspiration, Dzvuke has looked to some of his favourite artists whose big risks resulted in big rewards. The unique sound of Childish Gambino, more locally Perth’s prince of psychedelic rock Kevin Parker of Tame Impala fame as well as Golden Features and Hermitude.
Like these artists, Dzvuke isn’t afraid to experiment or to push genre boundaries and emotional depth to create something uniquely his.
It’s a world away from the teenager who taught himself to make music in his bedroom, messaging rappers online to ask if he could produce a beat for them.
That aspiring musician could never have imagined he’d one day share a stage with one of the world’s biggest bands, or end up having breakfast with one of his idols.
It’s been a packed few years for Dzvuke, not just in the studio, but playing shows across the world too. One of the biggest highlights of his career so far came when he opened for Coldplay at Optus Stadium in 2023 in front of a crowd of 60,000.
“They’re a legendary band — they’re music,” he reflects. “Like everyone listens to Coldplay, they’re the soundtrack to everyone’s lives. So to be in the same place and same stage as them, and hearing Chris Martin say “Thank you Adrian” in front of 60,000 people is insane. Like damn, this man just said my name.”
Even smaller moments, though, like fans recognising him after a small gig in London and telling him how excited they were to see him, hold just as much weight for Dzvuke.
“It wasn’t a big show, but that feeling alone is really unmatched, (knowing) that your music is travelling through the globe,” he says.
Coming from a smaller city like Perth, Dzvuke says it’s easy to forget your work can reach far beyond your immediate surroundings. But travelling, and seeing firsthand how his music resonates, has been a reminder of that reach.
“Being in Perth, which is the most isolated city in the world, it can be really hard to find a spark sometimes because you’re around the same people,” he says, “Just being out there meeting new people with new perspectives really helps creatively, and even in life in general.”
And Perth may be isolated, but it has produced the likes of Troye Sivan, The Waifs, San Cisco, Pendulum, Spacey Jane and Tame Impala.
It’s the latter who’s made a lasting impact on Dzvuke’s career, both in how to pave his own path as well as building a balanced life as an artist.
Dzvuke recently fronted a campaign for Kevin Parker’s chord-generating synthesiser Orchid, working closely with the global star at his home in the South West.
“I remember one day . . . he was just sitting there eating cereal, and I sat with him outside looking at this crazy beautiful view. One of the best views in Western Australia if I’m being honest,” he says.
“When you listen to someone’s music for so long, it’s kind of insane.
“I look up to him because he seems like he has a really well-balanced lifestyle; he cares about the people around him, he’s still very down-to-earth. He’s a superstar, but he’s very humble and he cares about the art.
“A lot of people, sometimes they stop caring about the art when they get to a certain level and he still really cares and I think that’s beautiful.”
Alongside the career wins, there have been personal ones too. He recently graduated from university with a bachelor in business and marketing, and after living with his aunt in Perth for many years growing up, his whole family is back in town.
“Everyone is back together now and it feels great. I’ve been so used to being by myself so when I graduated I didn’t want to go to my graduation but now my family is around and they wanted to come, so they forced me to go,” he says.
“And that was such a beautiful moment to have, to make something feel like it matters, and family reminds you that things matter. Life matters.”
As for the EP, it’s something that also matters deeply to him.
“Conor Lawson, my friend and longtime collaborator and I have put a lot of effort into this project and explored new sounds, and I think we executed what we set out to do,” he says.
“I also just can’t wait to have more music out there in the world. I want people to play this project at house parties and add the songs in their DJ sets.”
Tissues optional.