The Story of Houser

For Calgary-born electronic music artist/producer, Houser (aka Adem O'Byrne), house is the essential spirit that completes the dance floor. A budding architect, his formula for building a track emulates the quirky creative process of his by-day profession. To Houser, music should be crafted with the same methodological rigour of house architecture — Think Tadao Ando’s 4x4 House or Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House.

Chicago architecture possesses an iconic vibrance, a city reborn from massive fires rising again like a Phoenix from ashes. The Houser approach is a revival of the classic Chicago sound, with a French Touch, woven in with film score grandeur. Developed to make you rise to the skies and dance—atypical arrangements and fluffy funk sets Houser apart from the standard four-to-the-floor of commercial house today. “House is essentialized from an emotive atom, on top of which an artist layers percussion, instruments, and textures that synergize to magnify that emotion,” explains Houser. “Artists should work precisely to their own taste, taking risks and setting trends, instead of catering to fleeting fashion.”

Houser’s musical influences include Daft Punk, Bicep, Never Dull, Kerry Chandler, Floorplan, Floating Points, Sebb Junior, and Mr. Scruff. With his debut album Albertan Sunrise (Dec 2020), Houser puts a new star on the map for Albertan style. With integrated laissez-faire cultural values, the album resonates a boundless potential and all-encompassing freedom. The album is a story of realizing inner development, curated to a sophistication that reflects the liberating beauty of its natural environment. This is music made for everyone of every facet; we could even call this house multifamily.

“I wanted to establish a grid for the album — bouncy kicks and jazzy hats at 120 BPM; and refine the building blocks of the genre: rhythm, vox sampling, upbeat chord progressions,” says Houser. “What I found was, overtime, it was always the other genres that wanted in once they heard what I was making. So Albertan Sunrise became this hypothetical house party where all these instruments and elements from other genres made an appearance—giving way to the greater Houser project.”