Unicorn Kid: The Kid is alright

It’s been a big week for Oli Sabin, aka Unicorn Kid, aka the hottest music producer in Scotland right now. Fresh from playing a storming set at the Belladrum Festival last weekend, he proceeded to then blow away a sold-out crowd at the Edinburgh Picturehouse in support of Calvin Harris – the first of two gigs he’ll play as part of this year’s Edge Festival. He’s been hard at work preparing for the mammoth US tour he’ll be undertaking in October.

And there was the small matter of him receiving his school exam results. Oli, you see, is 17. Whilst he clinched an A in Higher Music, as you would expect from someone who became the youngest ever artist to record a live session for Radio 1, he was rather miffed to only get a C in Art. “Can you believe that?” he exclaims. “Despite me getting into art school!” Sabin has deferred entry into the Edinburgh College of Art, wisely deciding instead to concentrate on his music.

The sole creative force behind Unicorn Kid, Sabin merges the electronica worlds of 8-bit and chiptone, and creates something unique and invigorating. It’s dance music, but not as you know it; it's pop music, but better than you’ve heard it. And people are going crazy for it. Unicorn Kid has taken MySpace by storm (his page has received well over a million hits in 16 months) and has built up a huge worldwide following. As Sabin explains: “the majority of my fan base is over in the USA, about 60 per cent or something. It’s really big over there. I don’t know why they are so receptive over there, but they seem to love it.”

Not bad for a kid who started making tunes in his bedroom in Leith, I suggest. Sabin laughs: “I first started producing dance music about two and a half years ago. It started as a muck-about project, but over time the interest just grew and grew. As more people took an interest the more serious I took it and the bigger it got. I got a manager last October, and things have just exploded since then."

Indeed, Unicorn Kid, unlike say, the Arctic Monkeys, is a genuine MySpace musical phenomenon – one of a generation of artists who upload their music straight to the web, cut out the record companies and find fame solely by word of mouth. The music starts as a hobby, but if the tunes are there, it can quickly turn into something much bigger. Sabin agrees. “I’ve always uploaded my stuff. I wasn’t really bothered about how crap they sounded at first, I was uploading for myself."

Was he surprised how quickly his music began to attract attention? “I think I was surprised at the start, but this is all I do: I do the music, the graphics, the promotion, the admin, I do it all. So I work hard, and I’ve not been too surprised that it has reaped results. It’s always been an interest of mine, doing graphics and making music.

“It’s been a process of taking little steps, which have built up. I did a session for Radio 1 when I was 16 for Vic Galloway. But there’s been no kind of big event so to speak where I thought: ‘Oh, this has got really big'." Even when he was asked to remix the Pet Shop Boys? “That was mad! I was on Twitter, speaking about the Pet Shop Boys, and [NME journalist] Peter Robinson said back: ‘You should do them a remix.’ He knew their manager, who then got in touch with mine. So it was a nice stepping stone.

But even with all his success to date, it’s easy to think that Sabin’s parents might secretly want him to concentrate on his studies. Instead, he explains proudly, they are amongst Unicorn Kid's biggest fans. “They’ve been totally awesome. They’ve always backed me and have put money into it when it’s needed."

Despite this support, Sabin does admit he prefers them to stay away from gigs – though his mother was in attendance for the Calvin Harris show. It’s easy to see why his parents have such faith in him. Despite his age, Sabin sounds wise beyond his years, and has set himself no agenda other than enjoying himself and completing his debut album, to be released next year. Does he see Unicorn Kid as a long term project? “I’m just going with the flow. I’ve had offers of doing song writing from other people, which is something I’m going to pursue.”

He laughs: “If I get sick of it, I can always just go back to art school.”