Vince Watson

Glasgow, Scotland

Hope

AmbientDowntempo

Behind the Music

I want my music to convey the full spectrum of the book’s emotions — hope, desperation, sadness, pain, melancholy and everything in between. The tracks themselves are filled with intensity, similar to the work of modern composers like Ben Lukas Boysen, Olafur Arnalds and Hans Zimmer. Their soundtracks and film scores radiate the deeper narrative of their corresponding movies, which is my goal in this project. 

I was inspired by the project’s rich visualization of sentiment and storyline. Since The Outlaw Ocean is so multi-faceted in its approach to art, it is much easier for me to gravitate toward the photographic side of the project, putting the sound I would imagine behind the still imagery.

Vince Watson
About Vince Watson

With almost 25 years in the Electronic music industry, Vince Watson has released over 200 projects worldwide, including 12 albums and 75 remixes, and his hard work has been rewarded with recordings for some of the very best electronic music labels like Planet E, Yoruba, Poker Flat, Cocoon, BBE and Transmat, as well as running his own Everysoul label.


His skill sets have allowed him to work with some of the very best electronic musicians including Laurent Garnier, Derrick May, Joe Claussell, Richie Hawtin, Sven Vath, Carl Craig, Osunlade, Steve Bug and Josh Wink and, as a touring musician, has been able to play at some of the world’s best clubs and events, including Enter at Space, Ibiza, Berghain Berlin, Womb Tokyo and many events in The Netherlands.
 As well as his touring schedule and studio commitments, Vince’s experience and knowledge is also being put to use by Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where Vince is working as a Senior Lecturer for AEMA, the CvA’s new Electronic music school.

He also runs a monthly podcast, “Radio Drama,” which features top guests from the electronic music world each month.

Vince will release an LP for The Outlaw Ocean Music Project in Autumn 2020 entitled “Hope,” which was commissioned by The New York Times investigative journalist Ian Urbina for his book.

Now based in Amsterdam, Vince’s live shows are now in demand around the world and, as a former Tresor resident, his DJ sets are also now highly requested.

Winner of the 2021 Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Innovation in Journalism

The Journalism behind the Music

All music in this project is based on The Outlaw Ocean, a New York Times Best-Selling book by Ian Urbina that chronicles lawlessness at sea around the world. This reporting touches on a diversity of abuses ranging from illegal and overfishing, arms trafficking at sea, human slavery, gun running, intentional dumping, murder of stowaways, thievery of ships and other topics.

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