VICE Spotlight: Porcelain Boy

Oct 30, 2023

How to describe Sydney's Porcelain Boy?

Fast Motorbikes. Black Eyeliner. And Wigs. Club. Punk. Indie. Futuristic. Hyperpop.

Though the duo, made up of Jordan Olyslagers and Jordyn Mamora, have released only two songs to-date (with an avid selection of demos clunking around in the shadows) their project, Porcelain Boy, has all the tellings of a well-thought out, conceptual outfit pushing a sound that is both innovative and ultramodern.

"It's hard music for soft people, soft music for hard people. You get it?" They tell VICE.

Their influences dip into a broad list of artists that, much like Porcelain Boy seem to be, seek to evolve throughout their careers. From Limp Bizkitz to Grimes to Modeselektor, NIN, Britney, Machine Girl and Slayyyter.

"Throughout the years, the artists on these lists haven't changed so much as the music they've released has evolved. We have found our own palettes developing alongside (or potentially being developed by) these artists," they say.

"A constant throughout has been music that elicits an uncontrollable physiological response in us. We’ve always been about music that you feel in your chest, music that contorts your face, music that forces you into making more music."

Through emotive lyrics and constantly changing instrumentals, the duo succeed in showing how their influences have shaped them up to this point. Their latest, "Club Punk", begins with a ripping rock-adjacent guitar before detouring into a cut-back, electro-oriented first verse. The best part of the song is its ascent into the chorus, whipping listeners into a cul de sac of frenzied production that could soundtrack the strobed-setting of a rave.

"We’re telling stories. Mostly our own, and sometimes stories about the people around us. Tales of misadventure, romance, instructional guides, self help novellas at times," they say.

"Like any storyteller, we try to capture the tone/the voice of the moment. We obsess over foley sounds, always trying to tie in elements of the soundscape from the world of the stories we’re retelling into the production. Right now and for the last while, a lot of what we listen to and the spaces we’re inhabiting have been drowning us in heavy breaks, glitch, indigestible basses."

Photo by Billy Zammit.

Porcelain boy, for the duo, is basically an anthropological study. They both sit as sponges to the world around them, soaking in life to then wring it out into their songs. In the process, their output emits states of "ecstasy, confusion, sex, heat, anxiousness," they say. As they experience the world, they want others too.

White travelling the world, reaching the masses, inspiring other artists and making music full-time are obviously high on their list of goals in the future, when they think about the big goal it's a little more transient.

"The grandiosity of the big goal isn't something we’ve spent too much time trying to digest," they say.

"We just want to be consumed by what we make and the artists making it with us."

Follow VICE Spotlight on Spotify for a weekly rotation of some of Australia's best upcoming artists. This week: Porcelain Boy, Fraser Bell, Gut Health, Skeleten, Miss Kaninna, BBIANCA, dœgægé, YNG ONE + more.

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