Or:la wants to get you all fired up
100%: The Derry-born DJ and producer talks Ibiza adventures, inept sound technicians and her beloved cat Sparkles.
Music
Words: Jade Wickes
The first song Orlagh Dooley listened to and really loved? Shanks & Bigfoot’s Sweet Like Chocolate.
Perhaps this isn’t a tune you’d immediately associate with the DJ/producer better known as Or:la, whose sets usually veers much heavier. But growing up on the small island of Inch off the north coast of Ireland, a 20-minute drive from her birthplace, Derry, it represented a bridge to something larger.
Over the last near-decade, Or:la has carved out a reputation as a prolific selector playing festivals and clubs all around the world. In 2017 she also founded the record label Céad, which has released music from the artists including high-energy duo FAFF and DJ Seinfeld. “The short version,” she says “is that I got into music by putting on my own events and setting up my own stuff.”
Having studied Media Production at Liverpool Uni, Or:la moved to Berlin before finally landing in South London. The first EP she released was the choppy, break-influenced UK Lonely back in 2016. Now, with the release of debut album Trusting Theta, Or:la’s sound has evolved significantly. Its nine tracks are a collection of dark, disparate, industrial sounds with features from Eliza Rose (on excellent, menacing track Slay The Beast) Algerian DJ Mary Lake and fellow Derry musician SOAK.
Largely inspired by Or:la’s quest to break free “from the suffocating energy of religious rural Ireland”, Trusting Theta is a way for her to channel that frustration into something satisfying. Opener Milky Way of Glitter eases you in with soft spoken word; Fired Up does exactly what it says on the tin; Sea Slugs is a chuggy, dubby banger. The rolling, meditative drums of Cupid Doesn’t Live In Clapham Common, meanwhile, suggest you’re better off finding love by looking inwards.
“I’ve gotten into the habit of saying ‘no more!’ and paying attention to what gives me energy and what takes it away,” Or:la says of the journey that’s led her to this point. How does she want these tunes to make her listeners feel? “Confident and mischievous.”
10%
What’s your favourite thing about your job?
Playing someone’s track they sent to me when I know they’re in the crowd.
20%
What’s your most controversial opinion about dance music?
Fire all the white cis male sound technicians.
30%
What’s a bad habit you wish you could kick?
Beating myself up for making mistakes.
40%
Love, like, hate?
I love karaoke, I like sitting down DJing, and I hate airports.
50%
What’s your phone screensaver?
My cat, Sparkle.
60%
Favourite song of all time?
UB40’s Don’t Break My Heart sprang to mind first…
70%
What do you think about when you’re in the shower?
Why is Sparkle screaming to get in the bathroom? I’m usually taking baths, though – it’s the only place I fully relax. I normally try not to think much in the bath, so that those nice “ah-ha!” moments can arrive.
80%
Do you have any interesting scars?
There’s a little scar on my knee from swinging off a four-poster poolside bed in Ibiza when we holidayed there for my friend’s birthday. Apparently, it was Tiësto’s old villa.
90%
What’s the most memorable DM you’ve received?
It was something like: “That was the worst set I’ve ever heard, I had to leave early.”
100%
What can artists do to help save the world?
Collaborate with someone with a smaller following, or shout about another artist’s work who doesn’t come from privilege or money. And go to therapy.
