Dan Carey can trace his good fortune back to one experience. Ten years ago, the London-born producer was in the studio with his childhood hero, Lee “Scratch” Perry, who told Carey he wanted to give him a blessing. “He went and got some incense and waved it around and said that I’d have good luck from now on,” smiles Carey. “Which has been fairly true!”
Since then, Carey has become one of the UK’s most in-demand producers. There’s a whole scene in south London defined by his work. His name on a record implies a certain level of credibility – the Carey stamp of approval. It’s partly down to his impressive back catalogue: Fontaines DC, MIA, Wet Leg, Foals, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and Black Midi. He’s even made a single for Kylie. Not for nothing has Carey twice been nominated simultaneously for two Mercury Prizes (in 2014 for Everybody Down by Kae Tempest and First Mind by Nick Mulvey; in 2019 for Schlagenheim by Black Midi and Dogrel by Fontaines DC). That he’s drawn such acclaim also comes down to his unique and uncompromising style of production. In a world of soulless auto-tune and artificial TikTok sound bites, Carey captures consciousness. He bottles a feeling, injecting a live element into a record to showcase the beauty of “mistakes”. In other words, Carey makes music that feels distinctly human.
