Beatrice Dillon forges global influences into futuristic sounds

Underneath the experimental and unpredictable music she produces, Beatrice Dillon is a Zen-like figure. “I can’t really work with a lot of pressure going on,” she explains. “I think it’s good to be in a relaxed, fairly happy state of mind to be creative.”

From this calm demeanour emerges unclassifiable material at the outer reaches of electronic music, channelling influences from sources spanning the percussive rhythms of Tony Allen to the warped experimentalism of Autechre. Whether she’s recording music with decommissioned weapons of war for the artist Pedro Reyes or performing semi-improvised shows with Kassem Mosse, her output is liable to spiral out on strange tangents at any moment.

When Mixmag gets overly analytical about her sound, she laughs: “Not everything is so thought-about, you know.” Renowned Berlin store Hardwax played her latest album ‘Two Changes’, a collaboration with drummer Rupert Clervaux, at the wrong speed of 45 RPM without noticing a problem – proof that her releases are so cutting-edge they can still evolve once set in wax.

Dillon was born and bred in London, and counts seeing DJ Krush at The Jazz Café and clubbing at Gilles Peterson’s That’s How It Is nights among her seminal music experiences. But she’s never been limited by the scope of her home town, digging deep across genres to find records she enjoys, whether that be obscure soul singles or Luke Vibert on a drum ’n’ bass tip.

She’s showcased these wide-ranging tastes via radio residencies on Resonance, NTS and mixes for The Trilogy Tapes, Blowing Up The Workshop and Wichelroede, constructing unorthodox sets that masterfully stitch together disparate styles.

Galleries have queued up for Dillon’s services as a resident artist and composer of installations’ soundtracks, and in November she played live at the Barbican in support of Tim Hecker. When it comes to a club setting, she’s able to go functional, playing records primed squarely for the floor that are “really exciting and fast”, reflected in her most recent release, a soaring techno remix of Helm’s ‘Olympic Mess’ on PAN.

She has a bunch of new releases planned for 2017, but first she’ll take on the role of Visiting Artist at Goldsmiths University’s music department, sharing her knowledge with a new generation of sonic artists. Certainly beats any of our music teachers!

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Staff Writer, follow him on Twitter