Dusky

London duo Dusky, aka Nick Harriman and Alfie Granger-Howell, have spent over a
decade together making music. They met at sixth form in Camden, Harriman going
on to study music production while Granger-Howell studied composition. Bonding
over a shared love of pirate radio and the 90s electronica and happy hardcore that
soundtracked their adolescence, they began experimenting with production and
DJing. Before too long, they released some tracks with Anjunadeep as Solarity,
before playing around with their sound some more and settling into their musical
identity as Dusky.
Early support from the likes of Pete Tong for Stick by This and Loefah for Flo Jam
secured them fans both in the mainstream and the electronic underground, a
balance that they have trod in their releases to date. An early run of EPs followed
including their Careless EP, garnering further tastemaker support and launching their
DJ career, becoming headliners everywhere from Berlin’s Panorama Bar to London’s
Fabric, whilst also earning a nomination for BBC Essential Mix of The Year.
The following years saw Dusky further cultivate their sound and artistic sensibilities,
setting up their own record label 17 steps in 2014. This year marks the label’s
decade anniversary: no mean feat for a niche underground label releasing taste
making records. Harriman and Granger-Howell started it mainly as a home for their
own music with the aim of taking control of their own release and promotion
schedule. Since then, it has grown into a home for up-and-coming artists, with
established artists and scene veterans occasionally gracing the label’s catalogue
too. Over the years, 17 steps has put out releases and remixes from the likes of
Nathan Micay, LTJ Bukem, Interplanetary Criminal, Denham Audio and Shed, as well
as a string of Dusky’s own releases on the label, including Love Taking Over and
Cold Heart.
Their inaugural album Stick by This was eventually followed by 2016’s Outer, the
duo’s major label debut on Polydor, which also featured the Wiley collaboration ‘Sort
It Out Sharon’ and single ‘Ingrid Is a Hybrid’. In support of this album, they developed
a live show and took it on the road, which landed them Best Live Act at the DJ Mag
Best of British Awards 2016. Releases for labels like Running Back followed, whilst
the duo’s DJ career continued to thrive, touring Europe, USA and Australasia,
eventually landing them a 12 week residency curating line-ups at London’s XOYO.
JOY was their next album-length project and was released in 2021. Written and
released in the depths of the pandemic and global lockdown, the album was
designed to replicate the same hedonism and thrill of playing gigs and festival sets to
large audiences. Though the duo’s usual process of testing out demos to willing
crowds and on a soundsystem was stripped away, the album still held the same
euphoria of being out and having a perfect dancefloor moment. One track in

particular, the garage-influenced ‘Eros’ on JOY, lead the direction of 2022’s
Pressure, where the duo leaned more into their garage pirate radio roots to create an
album that’s heavily indebted to the genre.
Dusky intend to continue their philosophy of taking influences from the music that
they grew up listening to and amalgamating it with a fresh and very personal take.
When it comes to 17 Steps, the goal is to continue to use it as a platform to support
artists and be a part of their stories: something that brings them great personal
satisfaction.