Dexter Tortoriello

Tortoriello grew up in Chicago.[2] One of his father’s friends owned a recording studio, so Tortoriello and his brother had access to a wide range of analog recording equipment, including eight-track recorders and effects racks, from at least the age of twelve.[2] This led to him starting numerous musical projects, initially focusing on electronic music but later developing into doom metal, noise, and ambient styles.

After spending several months off the grid in Hawaii at the beginning of 2010, Tortoriello and his partner Megan Messina returned to Chicago, where he began to combining samples of older projects with field recordings from the island to create his first songs as Houses.[3][4] Houses’ style was a significant departure from his previous work, showcasing a blissed out, hypnagogic pop sound. Soon after Tortoriello posted the song “Endless Spring” on his Myspace page, Pitchfork featured the track on their website, and within three days Houses was signed by Lefse Records.[4] Messina joined the group soon after. Houses released the album via Lefse on October 19, 2010, and played their first shows on October 20 at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York.[4][5] At the same time, their single “Soak It Up” was featured as part of a multimedia photography retrospective at the New York Public Library Main Branch.[6] In 2011, the band toured North America and performed at South By Southwest.[7]

After releasing All Night, Tortoriello began posting solo material on Bandcamp.[8] The sound was a significant departure from Houses, described by Time Out as “dark, droning and ethereal."[9] He released the Blow EP in early 2011 via Bandcamp. Soon after, Diplo reached out to Tortoriello via Myspace and signed the act to his label, Mad Decent.[9] On April 12, 2011, he re-released Blow via Mad Decent and Downtown Records. The EP was generally well received, described by NPR Music as “aggressive and immediate” and by the Chicago Reader as “vital and exciting."[10][11] Tortoriello played the Mad Decent Block Party as Dawn Golden in August 2011.[8]

In 2012, Tortoriello and Messina began work on their second record, an apocalyptic concept album titled A Quiet Darkness.[12] The duo used field recordings from abandoned houses, schools, and cabins in Desert Center, California to build out their ambient electronic soundscapes.[13] Tortoriello turned samples of light switch clicks, stomping feet and sweeping dust into drum kits, and augmented studio instrumentation with impulse responses from inside and outside the buildings.[14] They finished the album at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, before relocating to Los Angeles.[13] Houses released videos for “The Beauty Surrounds” and “Beginnings” in February and March 2013, respectively.[15][16] They released A Quiet Darkness on April 16, 2013 via Downtown Records, after pre-streaming the album on The Huffington Post.[13]

At the same time, Tortoriello was working on Still Life, his debut full-length as Dawn Golden. On April 25, 2014 he released the single “All I Want” as Dawn Golden. A video for “All I Want” was released on Majestic Casual’s YouTube channel, directed by Tyler T. Williams.[17] On May 13, 2014, he released Still Life, via Mad Decent and Downtown Records.[18] Later that year, he released a video for “Still Life” directed by Kyle DePinna and Still Life (Remixes) featuring contributions from Diplo and Manila Killa.[19]

Since 2015, Tortoriello has worked as a producer and songwriter for numerous electronic, hip-hop and R&B artists. As Dawn Golden, he appeared as a featured artist and co-writer on Ryan Hemsworth's “Snow In Newark” (2014),[20] What So Not's “Arrows” (2015)[21] and Martin Garrix’s “Sun Is Never Going Down” (2016),[22] and has co-writing and production credits on Kali Uchis’ “Melting” (2015)[23] and Lil Yachty's “Forever Young” (2017).[24]

On August 24, 2018, Tortoriello released the single "Fast Talk" under his Houses moniker and announced a new EP, Drugstore Heaven, which was released on September 28, 2018.[25] A lyric video for "Fast Talk" was released on October 22, 2018,[26] with an official video released on January 28, 2019.[27] The vinyl version of the EP features remixes from Com Truise, Willy Moon, Still Woozy, and Vexxed on the b-side.[28]

Praise for "Fast Talk" and Drugstore Heaven has come from a range of publications including Nylon[29] and Billboard, with the latter calling the single "entrancing."[30] In January 2019, "Fast Talk" began to chart on the Alternative Songs,[31] Rock Airplay,[32] and Hot Rock Songs[33] charts in the US, the first of any Houses single to do so. Houses will support Jungle on their upcoming March 2019 tour of the US.[34]