Dover

Scandinavian beat-producer Dover refers to himself as an “instrumental hip hop artist from Norwegian suburbs,” filing his sound under “melancholic hip hop.” Previously known as Ben Dover, he hails from the town of Holmestrand, not far from Oslo. At the beginning of Dover’s journey, inspiration came from the computer and allowed him to create music with only a love of electronic music in his background. Early adventures in house music soon transformed to hip hop experiments. Dover found the sound and techniques of the old school hip hop masters mattered to him most. With creative sampling as his guide, an exciting musical project was born.


The visual atmospheres of cinema and deep, thoughtful philosophies help Dover “paint the moods and sounds I want to make.” Those foundations made Dover a prolific experimenter, and he and a hometown friend formed the label Lost Heaven to release the music. Dover’s debut album <a href="spotify:album:5U1qVt9v2wWoYHn7hQn5ye" data-name="Before the A.M.">Before the A.M.</a> was released in 2018 gaining much notice for the European beat scavenger. Cold Busted was among those paying attention, and the renowned Los Angeles label signed up Dover’s follow-up, Someday You Will Miss Today, due in summer 2020.


Dover is primed and ready to join the ranks of the global instrumental hip hop fraternity. He’s already working hard on his next album, finding sparks as he digs through digital crates for lost sonic gems. As Dover says, “It’s always about the directions the samples I find take me.”