Vancouver DJ Overland Talks About Techno Music & Being Authentically Yourself

For people far and wide, music is one of the most uplifting parts of life, whether you listen to it, create it, or both. It's also a powerful tool for connection, identity and self-expression.

When it comes to making music (or any art), it's important to remember that there's no right or wrong way to go about it. Fast or slow, light or intense, experimental or familiar — music can be as diverse as the artists who make it. Expressing yourself by getting creative with sound is what being a musician is all about, even when that sound comes from fruit.

To demonstrate the power of owning your individual flavour, Truly Hard Seltzer enlisted top musicians from across Canada for an experiment: each artist sampled extracted biorhythms from Truly's fruit flavours (like watermelon and kiwi) and used the resulting sounds to create their very own unique and personal track.

The artists involved include Montreal's Ouri and Lunice, Toronto's Mour and Bombay, Halifax's Rich Aucoin, Vancouver's Teon Gibbs, DiRTY RADiO, and Vancouver DJ, Overland. These musicians took it upon themselves to demonstrate just how Truly's refreshing, true-to-fruit flavours can inspire self-expression, culture and creativity through music.

And how exactly did they do that? Truly used a special fruit-reading device, called Biodata Sonification technology, to detect biorhythmic sounds from the actual fruit in Truly's flavours using specially placed electrodes. In the case of Vancouver DJ Overland, she went with Truly's Watermelon & Kiwi.

Inspired by that sound, Overland worked with samples to come up with her own track, "Yours Truly." The song can be heard on Truly's For The Flavourful Spotify playlist, along with the 11 other tracks from Canadian artists, all created using PlantWave technology.

Narcity recently spoke to Overland about her music, what drew her to take part in Truly's For The Flavourful project, what being authentically herself actually means and how this out-of-the-box experiment helped her express her talent, creativity and art.

Questions and responses have been edited for clarity.

Can you tell the Narcity readers a bit about yourself and what makes your music different from other techno/acid house DJs in Vancouver?

"I got into techno after visiting Detroit when I was 21. I spent a week digging for vinyl, going to super incredible events, and meeting all the beautiful people in the techno hemisphere. I can't wait to go back. I'm not sure if I'm entirely unique because the 303 sound is incredibly classic, but I try my best to make weird/warped acid bangers."

What are three fun facts about you that Narcity readers may be surprised to know?

"I'm left-handed, vegetarian and a Virgo."

Talk a bit about "Yours Truly," your contribution to the For The Flavourful playlist.

"I spent about four weeks writing my track, 'Yours Truly.' It was probably one of the most interesting musical assignments I've ever been given. I like it because it's a lot different from what I normally write, but still very 'me.' You can find my track — and a whole bunch more from other amazing Canadian artists — on Truly's For The Flavourful playlist, available on Spotify."

You sampled biorhythmic sounds from the actual fruits in Truly's Watermelon & Kiwi Hard Seltzer to create this track. This sounds pretty complicated. What was the creation process like?

"This project was an amazing opportunity to take an intangible concept like flavour, and make it into something people can embrace — by transforming it into sound. I worked with Truly — and some pretty cool technology — to actually turn fruit biorhythms into sound.

"Then I used that sound to create an original track inspired by Truly's incredible, bold flavour. Basically, anything living has current, so Truly used PlantWave technology to capture the MIDI information from the current of both a watermelon and a kiwi from Truly's Watermelon & Kiwi flavour, and let me create music from that!"

Narcity's all about showing love for your own city. As an Albertan who relocated to Vancouver, do you often use your hometown or local music scene to inspire your sound?

"I've been away from Alberta for a while now, but I think there are times I reminisce about the big beautiful skies there. My Truly track came from wanting to capture the feeling of summer and gathering with close friends and people I love."

How did writing and producing music with Truly differ from your usual way of creating music? Is this something you would incorporate into your music again?

"I love how Truly sees flavour. It's not just how something tastes, it's a representation of culture, identity, and self-expression. For The Flavourful is all about showing how 'Truly's great-tasting flavour helps Canadians express theirs.' I would definitely use the PlantWave technology again; it had a very intuitive feel to writing music."

How do you use your own individual and unique self-expression to create music?

"I just went with my instincts and went with what sounded right. I think music isn't what's right or wrong but what feels good in the moment."

How do you hope others relate to your music?

"I hope they enjoy all the different angles I try to achieve and the fun I have while doing it."

What does it mean to you to be authentically yourself?

"Trusting yourself and your vision even when things aren't going perfectly. Knowing yourself better than trying to make sure others know you."

What else are you working on in the near future that Narcity readers may be interested to know about? (Do you still organize Freak Hour in Vancouver?)

"There may be more Freak Hour in the fall, but for now I'm working on my next solo records."

(In case you've never been to Freak Hour, it's a series of warehouse raves in Vancouver!)

If you could collaborate with any musician, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

"I'm pretty obsessed with anything Priori releases (another Canadian artist). Super unreal techno-adjacent music."

Finally, what's your ideal scenario for listening to Truly's For The Flavourful playlist this summer?

"At an outdoor party full of friends and dancers."

Overland is no stranger to creativity, thinking outside the box and self-expression — which are absolute musts for any music artist. Understanding this, Truly's released the For The Flavourful Soundpack on Landr: a pack of sound samples from the fruits that inspire their flavoured seltzers — like mangoes, strawberries and lemons — to give Canadian musicians the chance to express their personal flavour and create their own musical creations.

The Sound Pack is housed on Landr for the music creator community to download the samples (for free), and begin expressing their own flavour through sound.

Listen to Truly's For The Flavourful playlist to hear music made with the fruit sounds from its flavours. While you're at it, check out their website or follow them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

For more stories from the UNFILTERED series, check out the Truly hub here.

Narcity does not condone the overconsumption of alcohol. If you are going to drink alcohol, please do so responsibly and only if you're of legal age.