Before she became widely recognized as one half of everyone’s favorite D&B power duo, Portland-based artist Iris was hard-house producer Iris.
Growing up, a variety of artists whose productions floated underneath the electronic music umbrella inspired the D&B powerhouse. However, the two genres she returned to over the years were UK hard house and trance. Elements of these aural influences, as well as deep D&B and techno, still peek through in her latest works.
In the early 2010s, she met veteran D&B producer (now life-partner) Quadrant, who encouraged Iris to “take music production more seriously.” So, Iris began toying around with drum and bass drum patterns and sound design in the studio.
“I always had D&B in the background. It wasn’t until after we got married that he was really like hey, come produce with me,” she said. “He pulled me into the studio, and there we wrote our first tune together that later got signed by Metalheadz.”
The track, "Anthropocene," was released in 2012 on Metalheadz’ Volume 4 Genesis EP to wide acclaim.
The artist took it as a sign to continue stoking the fiery momentum and produce even more drum and bass records.
Since then, Iris has released music on over 10 of the most prominent purveyors of the genre. Spanning the UK and international scenes, her growing list of label affiliations include Ninja Tune, Hospital Records, CIA, Dispatch Recordings, Commercial Suicide, Renegade Hardware, Fokuz, Avantgarde, Innerground, Vandal, and Intrigue.
Her most recent project on CIA is the future funk composition, "Double Path," produced with husband Quadrant. The four-track EP is a heady body of work laced with layers of rich textures, distorted synthesizers, intricately arranged sound design, and plenty of rolling, acid-tinged bass.
The D&B producer has been busy this past Winter, playing her first gig in Seattle since 2019 with Quadrant and Kid Hops and releasing several collaborative works and widely-acclaimed mixes on her Soundcloud.
Fans and peers alike agree that the producer is revered not only for her projects, productions, and live performances but her mixing as well.
Her latest guest mix for Averil Cooper aka Averse’s new mix series, FRS Volume 2, demonstrates the artist’s prowess in producing exceptionally fluid, rolling D&B sets and includes a few unreleased IDs and funky, bass-heavy tracks by collaborators and D&D peers Quadrant, Sweetpea, Alix Perez, DLR, Amoss, Jubei, and Tyrone.
Iris is set to support Alix Perez, alongside artists Hyroglifics, Quadrant, and Enki at the unofficial Rezz Afterparty on May 13, at Seattle’s Monkey Loft. Tickets are available for purchase now.
