IN THE STUDIO WITH...
THE VISION: CREATING CLASSIC SOUNDS
Since first catching notice with limitedcirculation white labels in 2019, the musical partnership between Ben Westbeech and KON – known as The Vision – has been making waves ever since. Andreya Triana-fronted singles like “Heaven” and “Mountains” won over Nu Disco fans and DJs alike, and now the duo has released its terrific debut album on Defected. Flaunting house, disco, soul and funk stylings, the eponymous full-length rides the line between classic and contemporary, as it features collabs with Triana, Roy Ayers, Dames Brown and Honey Dijon. We caught up with The Vision’s Amsterdam-dwelling singer/songwriter Westbeech and its Boston-based beatmaker KON (aka Christian Taylor) to discuss the album. DJ TIMES: YOU TWO HAD SEPARATE CAREERS BEFORE THE VISION. HOW DID THIS PROJECT HAPPEN? KON: We’ve known each other a long time, and wanted to do something for a while. Finally, the timing was right, so I sent Ben a beat and a few days later he sent me back the vocals. Although it was a great track, it didn’t actually make the album. Then, from there, I’d fly back and forth to Amsterdam and, over the span of about five years, we made the album. Ben Westbeech: I played a gig in Bali, which Simon Dunmore [owner of Defected] was at, and I kinda asked for his opinion. He’d put my second solo album out, so there was a lot of history there. At the time, it wasn’t really a Defectedsounding record, but it took so long to make the album that, over that time, they started putting out different records. The whole Glitterbox thing happened and I guess it suited what we were doing when it came to fruition. As a label, they are really behind the record emotionally, as well as financially, which is incredibly important. There are a few collaborations and different vocalists on the album, including Andreya Triana, Dames Brown, even Roy Ayers.
The Vision: (from left) KON & Ben Westbeech. Photo: Adam Maggs
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WINTER ISSUE
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2020
DJ TIMES: ON THE ALBUM,THE VOCAL HOOKS REALLY STAND OUT. TELL US ABOUT THAT PROCESS. Westbeech: A lot of the hooks come instantly when I hear an instrumental. Nine times out of 10, it will be the first thing that comes into my head. On “Heaven,” it was a combined effort with Andreya, and that track has had a great reaction everywhere and still continues to. I even got sent a video of a mass demonstration in New York and they were all singing the lyrics, which is nice to see people uniting over that sound. KON: For “Missing,” we had the demo pretty quickly and kept working it. I remember being sat at the desk and giving Ben the concept, and we developed the hook and the melody, but we could not get the verses. We knew that the track was a banger, so we didn’t want to let it go. So we asked Andreya to come in and (continued on page 32)
