Dillon: a fragile voice meets electronics in indie synth pop

Our Artist of the Month for March is the incredible musician Dillon. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, but raised in Cologne since the age of five, Dillon – also known as Dominique Dillon de Byington – began to make music as a teenager. A self-taught piano player and writer of poems, she began to publish self-made videos of her first songs on YouTube. These ultimately earned her a large fan base on the Internet and eventually led to her first appearance in Cologne. She lived in Berlin when she released her debut EP “Ludwig” on Combination Records in 2008. From there, Dillon shared the stage with Tocotronic and also appeared at the Melt! festival.

Dillon has been in business for a long time and has always reinvented herself. But let’s start at the beginning. In 2011 she finally released her debut album This Silence Kills and quickly established herself as one of the most influential artists in the German music scene. She toured Europe several times before returning with her similar second album, The Unknown, released in 2014. With her third work Kind (2017), she expanded her sound by including brass and woodwind instruments, which achieved a dramatic effect. Her latest album 6abotage (2023) took a dance-orientated but still spooky direction and reinforced her reputation as a pioneer of the genre. She has composed for the theatre and is known for her intense live shows.

From YouTube to festival stages: Dillon’s journey

Dillon, known for her fragile vocals and minimalist electronic sounds, has established herself as one of the most unique voices in indie synth pop. She has built up a loyal fan base through her albums This Silence Kills, The Unknown, Kind and 6abotage. Her music moves between art, performance and deep emotional experiences, often interspersed with an intimate singer-songwriter passion. Her live shows, known for their intensity and experimental approach, make Dillon a true artist who transcends boundaries. In February Ramon, the first single from her new, German-language work Trauerhymnen [“Anthems of Sorrow”] will be released, which she will present live in March in Berlin’s Betonhalle.

Dillon’s versatility and artistic development

Dillon has always evolved and expanded her musical range. During her career she worked with various artists and producers, among them Thies Mynther from Phantom Ghost and Tamer Fahri Özgönenc from Kollektiv MIT. Collaborating with these people has helped shape the unique sound that characterises Dillon’s albums. In particular, the single Thirteen ThirtyFive has become one of her signature songs garnering millions of streams worldwide. Her new album Trauerhymnen signifies a new phase in her artistic career which will certainly be as surprising and diverse as the previous ones.

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See more of Dillon on Instagram, YouTube and Spotify.
Once a month, recordJet has an Artist of the Month. The recordJet crew chooses an artist that has especially impressed us. Take a look at our AotM playlist – it is a playlist of all of our AotMs from past years up to today.