Terr, the Brazilian-born, Marseille-based producer and DJ best known as a founding member of Digitaria, the long-running electro and house collective that shaped her musical identity over 15 years, has since carved out a solo path where she moves between dancefloors and headphone listening with equal ease. Now, alongside collaborator Daniel Watts, she’s launched Twist + Turn, a new label that puts creative control entirely in their own hands.
In this interview, Terr talks about the origins of the project, the raw emotional honesty behind her latest single Drama, her love of hardware and hands-on sound design, and what it means to keep making music driven purely by inner necessity, from Belo Horizonte to Berlin to Marseille and beyond.
Your new EP marks the launch of Twist + Turn alongside Daniel Watts. What was the moment you both knew it was time to build something new together?
We had a ton of unreleased music, both solo stuff from each of us and tracks we made together. I started putting together a list of labels to send it to and all that, but at some point I just thought, why not do it myself? Daniel already had experience with Clash Lion so everything came together really fast and naturally. I love working with other labels, and I’ve always been really lucky to work with amazing people at places like Phantasy, Correspondant, Permanent Vacation and so many others, but having your own label is a completely different trip. They’re two good experiences that complement each other.
How did you and Daniel first meet, and now that you’re running Twist + Turn together, do you each have distinct roles or is it more of a shared creative process across the board?
We met back in the 2000s when we were both part of Digitaria, a band and project heavily influenced by electro and house. We played together in Digitaria for about 15 years, and then started doing solo stuff, although Digitaria never officially ended. Our roles at T+T are very fluid — we discuss everything, from the music itself to production details, artwork ideas…
What’s the philosophy behind Twist + Turn, is there a clear sonic identity you’re building toward? Will it be primarily for self-releases or will you welcome other artists as well?
It’s basically music we love, music we find interesting, music that works both in a club and at home, something that hopefully people enjoy and connect with, and that isn’t just for immediate consumption. You know that feeling when you’re listening to a set and a track catches your attention and you go ‘wow, what is that?’ That’s what we’d love to achieve. As for other artists, if the music is interesting and fits what we love and believe in, they’re always welcome!
Running a label adds a whole other layer of responsibility on top of being an artist. How do you balance your creative headspace as Terr with the decision-making hat you have to wear as a label founder?
I’m not sure it’s all that different. Maybe T+T is just an extra layer on top of the work… something that comes after the music is already done, since now we also have to present it to the world. But what drives Terr is the same thing that drives T+T for me, the artistic vision, the freedom of expression, all of it.
Your first EP on Twist + Turn “Drama” is out now. Genrewise, this EP sits in an interesting space, what were your musical reference points going in, and what influenced the direction of the sound?
For Drama (the track) I wanted to make something that referenced the early days of house, that slightly rough and very human feeling of 80s and 90s house music, with dirty drums, piano stabs and TB-303s. Nothing too polished or overproduced. The B-side of the single goes in a different direction, it’s a track heavily influenced by electro, much more psychedelic, with a sci-fi and mysterious feeling. Drama is expansive and fun, even though it’s about something very intimate, while Outer Space is introspective and mysterious, even though it talks about outer space itself.
And where did the lyrics come from? Was there a specific experience, feeling, or moment in your life that inspired them?
Yes, of course they were personal experiences. Drama is an old lyric, and trust me, I was feeling 100% of everything written there. Life has those moments, right? Where everything feels like an endless chain of small dramas. We have all been there.
You’ve spoken about being a studio addict and your love of analog gear. What does your current setup look like, and is there a piece of equipment that’s been central to the sound of this new EP?
Yes. Since the 2000s I’ve loved being surrounded by cables, keys and knobs. Of course a lot of the time it’s easier to do everything on the computer, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but when you’re physically modulating electricity with your hands, it’s a different thing. Not better or worse, just different. On “Little Dreamer” we used a drum machine and a small but powerful Akai synth called the Miniak for the synthetic sounds. The vocal loop I made by singing into a TC Helicon pedal, set up in a way that multiplied the voice with small pitch variations, creating that slightly absurd effect you hear. After everything was recorded, we edited it all on the computer, of course.
The Terr project launched a decade ago. Looking back at that first release and where you are now, what’s the biggest shift in how you approach making music?
I wouldn’t know how to say what has changed over the past ten years. For me it’s always been a continuous process. I started playing piano as a small child, then moved to punk rock as a teenager, joined Digitaria at the beginning of my adult life and then came Terr. It’s all more or less the same thing, it basically comes from an almost uncontrollable urge to get out what’s inside my head. Of course the instruments and external conditions change, but at the end of the day it’s just artistic expression.
Belo Horizonte to Berlin is quite a journey, geographically and culturally. How did each city shape you as an artist, and where do you feel like home?
In fact I am living in Marseille/France now. I’ve lived in Belo Horizonte, Barcelona and Berlin before moving here. Every city has a different scene and a different vibe. The important thing is to stay open and try to understand the influences of each place, try to integrate, learn something, see how things work, and so on. Belo Horizonte is a mid-sized city in the interior of Brazil, where I was surrounded by my family and childhood friends, while Berlin was exactly the opposite, that 24-hour madness, a city that breathes art, music and all kinds of excess. Two sides of life, right?