Hifi Sean

Ex-Soup Dragon-turned-house DJ Sean Dickson produces collaborative, electronic, disco-inspired pop under the moniker Hifi Sean. He was born in Bellshill, Scotland in 1967 to parents who helped foster his musical interests. Electro-pop acts such as Soft Cell turned Dickson’s head in the early ’80s, before he began playing covers of songs by bands like Throbbing Gristle and the Velvet Underground alongside a pre-Teenage Fanclub Norman Blake and a pre-BMX Bandits Duglas T. Stewart. In 1985, he formed the Soup Dragons, whose second album — the 1990 acid indie opus, Lovegod — hit the U.K. Top Ten and featured a Rolling Stones cover, the number five single “I’m Free.” That year’s tour of U.S. arenas in support of INXS left an impression on American audiences which ultimately helped send 1992′s “Divine Thing” into the Billboard Top 40. As the Soup Dragons began to fizzle out, Dickson moved to New York’s Lower East Side for a short while, finding inspiration in the area’s club scene. Returning to Scotland, he founded the High Fidelity, bringing an electronic influence to their two albums before that act split in 2001. Dickson subsequently spent many years away from music, suffering deep depression until a period of self-discovery led him to move to London where he begin to DJ at parties on the gay scene. By 2012 he was using the Hifi Sean name, derived from his old group the High Fidelity. After 15 years away from recording, 2016 brought a flurry of release activity under this playful nickname. Compared to what followed, his Slipped Discs, Vol. 1 EP with the New York DJ Shalvoy contained modest, experimental nu-disco. The run of singles that came afterward, however, were aimed purely at the mainstream, both in tone and by the fact that Dickson had made full use of his contacts list. Funk icon Bootsy Collins, Soft Cell instrumentalist David Ball, the voice of Inner City, Paris Grey, and disco diva Crystal Waters not only read like a roll call of Dickson’s inspirations, but all appeared on his subsequent, inventive 45s. His debut album — September 2016′s Ft. — included each of these tracks alongside spoken word intrigue from Yoko Ono, a psychedelic soundscape given voice by Blake, the last recorded performance of Suicide’s Alan Vega, and the first fruits of Dickson s collaborative relationship with David McAlmont, of McAlmont & Butler. The project was given a boost in 2017 when Defected picked up “Testify” — the record’s joyous, Waters-fronted slice of gospel-inspired disco — for reissue, leading to national airplay on BBC Radio 2. Next, a Record Store Day remix album, Ft. Excursions, appeared before he and Shalvoy closed out the year in understated fashion with Slipped Discs, Vol. 2. With the single “Transparent” — featuring a Bollywood orchestra recorded in Bangalore — Record Store Day 2018 brought an exclusive glimpse into sessions for a major project with McAlmont. 2018 also saw the release of “The Music,” a funky single featuring the Chicago drag artist Celeda. May 2019′s dancefloor-oriented “Love Is on the House” preceded a reunion with Waters on the single “Heavy.” Another teaser from the McAlmont sessions — “Bunker to Bunker” — was issued in 2020, and the following year saw Hifi Sean remixes of tracks by Ralphi Rosario and Erasure. Equally high-profile remix work came in 2022 for the Emeli Sandé and Nile Rodgers single “When Someone Loves You.” However, that year also saw a decided ramp-up in promotion of his long-rumored album with McAlmont, as three singles previewing that record were released: “The Skin I’m In,” “Maybe,” and “All in the World.” Originally slated for a 2020 unveiling, the long-delayed Happy Ending eventually saw the light of day in early 2023. ~ James Wilkinson