Twenty years after she first learned to DJ, Holly Lester is still tracing her sound back to where it started. Growing up in rural County Armagh, her first love was trance – Holly received her real education from late-night radio at a time when she was too young for clubs and knew no other DJs. Learning to mix on house records at fourteen, Holly soon moved to Liverpool for university in 2011 and became a resident at Chibuku Shake Shake, leading to three seasons in Ibiza, working at Space and Sankeys and becoming a Sankeys resident. Now based in Belfast, the multi-hyphenate has built a respected name in Ireland’s underground through her captivating sets, via her label Duality Trax and as co-founder of Free The Night, the campaign pushing for change in Northern Ireland’s nightlife.
That history runs through Open Your Mind, her debut EP and the tenth release on Duality Trax, out now. Its title track sits between progressive and tech house with UK garage-inflected percussion, “Big Fill” heads towards early London tech house, “Tanit” is named after the goddess associated with Ibiza and DJ Life closes the record with an after-hours remix. We caught up with Holly to talk about how rural Ireland, Liverpool and Ibiza shaped her, why a debut EP took more than a decade of production, how duality shows up on the record and where Free The Night currently stands…
You grew up in rural County Armagh, came up through England’s north-west scene at nights like Shine, Chibuku Shake Shake and The Warehouse Project and now call Belfast home. How has each of those places left its mark on the DJ and producer you are today?
Holly: People talk about how trance runs in our blood here in Ireland, and that was certainly true for me as well. Trance was my first love, and it still influences my productions and sound today, although it tends to manifest through a more progressive lens now. I was around thirteen when I first started getting into trance, and by fourteen I’d started learning to beatmatch with house records, simply because I found the slower BPMs easier to get my head around. That was the beginning of a lifelong love of house music, and I’ve played it in some shape or form ever since.
Over the years that followed, I became a bit of a musical sponge. Northern Irish legend Fergie’s Radio 1 show and BBC NI’s local ATL show opened my mind to minimal, techno and electro, while Annie Mac introduced me to more UK sounds, from garage and jungle to drum and bass and dubstep. It’s worth remembering that I was still living in a very rural part of Northern Ireland at this point. I didn’t know any other DJs, and I was too young to get into clubs, so what I was hearing on the radio was just as influential as my surroundings, if not more so.
When I finally started sneaking into clubs, most of the events I could get to were trance or hard dance nights, which were hugely popular in Ireland, particularly in the more rural areas. I only made it into the city clubs a handful of times before moving to Liverpool for university in 2011, where I suddenly felt spoiled for choice. Chibuku Shake Shake, which I later became a resident for, fed my appetite for UK-leaning sounds, while its sister party Circus satisfied my appetite for more European-influenced tech house and techno.
Ibiza was another hugely formative part of my journey. As much as some purists might roll their eyes at that, living there on and off in my early twenties had a massive impact on me. I feel very lucky to have experienced the island at a time when hardly anyone had a smartphone or was filming everything in the club. Looking back, it really did feel like a different era. Being able to see some of the world’s best DJs week in, week out at places like Amnesia, Space, Sankeys and DC-10 was truly an invaluable education. I worked for both Sankeys and Space over the three seasons I spent on the island, and in my final season I became a resident at Sankeys. It was a pivotal period for me, both musically and personally.
This December marks twenty years since I first learned to DJ, and I think now I can look back at all those formative experiences and recognise how each of them now find its way into my sets and productions, whether it’s in an obvious way or perhaps something more subtle. When I’m making music, I’m always thinking about how I can bring together these different parts of my life, and all the sounds and experiences that have shaped me. I think (and hope) that has come across in my recent release!
You have just released a new record called Open Your Mind which is a wicked listen. The EP is the result of over a decade of production and two decades in club culture. What made now the right time to put out an EP of your own?
Holly: I think I reached a point where it felt a bit like now or never. I’d put out a couple of remixes previously, and I’d been trying to work on original material more consistently over the last few years too. I wanted to release my first record on my own label so I had full creative control, and when the tracks were finished, I soon realised it would be the label’s tenth release. After putting out nine releases from other artists, as well as two VA compilations, it felt really special to make the tenth release my own.
I do have a tendency to overthink everything I make, though, and had my usual doubts about whether the tracks were ready or not. After some firm words from my good friend Steffan Todorović, who I ran Terrazzo with, I soon got over myself and started to put the wheels in motion. It just felt like the right time, I guess.
You’ve mentioned that finding your own sound is a long process and that you finally feel like you’re getting closer to what you want to convey. What does ‘closer’ sound like to you and was there a moment when it started to click?
Holly: For me, getting closer to my sound is about being able to accurately convey all the experiences and influences that have shaped me as a DJ, and finding ways to translate those into my own productions.
I think it’s only really started to click in the last few years, to be honest. I’m not saying I’ve completely figured it out either, hopefully it will only get better from here. But I’m really happy with how I’ve managed to bring together all these different influences, some subtle, some not so subtle, in a way that feels cohesive and representative of me as an artist.
In a previous interview you mentioned the theme of duality has always been present in your life, and it runs through the label’s name and, in some way, this record. How does it show up musically on the EP?
Holly: I think duality shows up in a few different ways across the EP. With “Big Fill”, there’s that contrast between a darker, heads-down tech-house sound and the more progressive, uplifting elements that come through in the breakdown. I think that reflects the way I like to play as a DJ, lifting things up before pulling back into a darker or more heads-down groove.
With “Tanit”, it’s more about the contrast in textures. There’s this really nice gliding, almost shimmering quality to the track, but then this cheeky little wubby bassline that comes in and catches you slightly off guard – a subtle nod to my love of UKG and dubstep.
Then with Open Your Mind, I think the duality comes through more so when comparing the original to DJ Life’s remix. The original has a much bigger, upfront feel to it, whereas the remix is more rolling, heads-down and after-hours.
You’ve said you made the title track with sunny festival days in mind and wanted it to be bigger and more expansive than your previous work. What were you moving away from and how did you keep the late-night intimacy that your sets are known for?
Holly: My remixes before this were more in the tech house realm, I guess – one in particular was quite dark, drawing heavily on the early London tech house scene in the late ’90s and early 2000s. With “Open Your Mind”, I wanted to explore something with a bigger, more expansive feel that would work at festivals as well as in clubs.
I think “Big Fill” still scratches the itch for the more rolling tech house sound on the EP, though, and undoubtedly I will continue to make more of that going forward. I don’t think everything I make needs to serve the same purpose, and it’s fun to explore different energies while still drawing on the influences that have shaped me as a DJ.
“Big Fill” heads into early London tech house, while “Tanit” drifts towards the Balearic. Those feel like two ends of your taste, so how do you decide which influence leads a track and is there a story behind the name “Tanit”?
Holly: There isn’t necessarily a conscious decision at the start of a track about which direction I’m going to take it in. I tend to just start working on something and see where it leads me. At a certain point, I’ll realise it’s leaning more towards one influence than another, and I’ll follow that instinct while still weaving in other, sometimes more subtle, elements from across my musical tastes.
With “Tanit”, the name came about because I’m really fascinated by the mythology and history of Ibiza, and Tanit is the goddess associated with the island. When I listen to the track, I can imagine myself coasting on a boat off the coast, somewhere near Formentera or Es Vedrà. There’s something about the way it moves that makes me feel really relaxed, but also like I could be listening to it on a boat party. I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as a Balearic track, and that might not even be the feeling other people get from it, but that’s the imagery it evokes for me. I had been reading up about Tanit a lot at the time so it felt only right to dedicate a track to her.
DJ Life closes the record with a super nice after-hours remix of the title track. Why was he the right person for the remix and how did it come about?
Holly: I’ve been a massive fan of DJ Life’s work for probably the last five or six years and his productions find their way into my sets all the time. We’d been talking on and off for a bit about doing something else for the label so it all fell into place really naturally. I love what he’s done with the remix and how he took it into sunrise 5am roller territory. It’s been really nice to connect properly and get to know him better through the process. We had a little release party here in Belfast last month, where Pat came over to play in Ireland for the first time, and we had a really fun time – lots of Guinness and plenty of old tech house records, which is a dream combo if you ask me.
You co-founded Free The Night in 2021 to push for change in Northern Ireland’s nightlife and this year you announced that you would be taking the government to court. What are you now aiming towards / hoping to achieve over the coming years?
Holly: Our immediate priority is the judicial review we’ve initiated against the government, specifically the Department for Communities. Independent research commissioned by the government and carried out by the University of Stirling was published last year, setting out recommendations for reforming the legislation that impacts nightlife and night time culture in Northern Ireland. We believe the government has failed to adequately address many of those recommendations, so we’ve taken legal action to challenge its decision.
We hope the process will lead the government to reconsider its position and take a more progressive approach to licensing legislation. The current framework creates significant barriers for opening new spaces and makes it difficult for festivals and events to take place. As a result, many of our artists and creatives leave for better opportunities elsewhere.
More broadly, our ambition has always been to help create a more diverse, sustainable and culturally vibrant nightlife in Northern Ireland. We need legislation that reflects how nightlife operates today, gives venues and promoters more opportunities to put on events, and allows our night time culture and artists to thrive.
You’re a DJ, a producer, a label head and a campaigner. Which of those hats is hardest to put down and has finishing a debut EP changed how you divide your time between them?
Holly: I think in some ways the theme of duality is so present in my life partly because I have this constant struggle with balance. I love having so many different projects on the go, but it can also be a double-edged sword at times.
Free The Night is definitely the hardest hat to put down, and can be the most demanding at times. A lot of the work is reactive, so we can’t always predict what’s going to happen or when we’ll need to respond to something. My co-founder Boyd and I are both incredibly busy with our other jobs, and Free The Night is currently unfunded, which means we’re trying to do a huge amount of work with very limited resources. We hope that will change in the coming years, and that we’ll eventually be funded and be able to dedicate more time to it.
I was diagnosed with ADHD last year, which has also helped me understand some of the difficulties I have with balancing everything and, at times, taking too much on, resulting in cycles of burnout. I haven’t necessarily figured out the perfect balance yet, and it’s something I’m constantly trying to work on, though I think finishing the EP and how rewarding that process has felt has been a reminder of how important it is for me to make space for my own music.
Now the EP is out, what do you hope people take from it live and is this the start of more releases or maybe even an album?
Holly: I think ultimately, if I can make people move and connect with the energy I’ve put into a track, then I’m happy with that. Finishing the EP has given me a lot of confidence to keep pushing forward with production, and I am excited to keep developing my sound and putting more music out there. And who knows, maybe an album will happen someday, but baby steps for now!