Hey Steven, great to have you with us again today. How are things with you and whereabouts are you chatting to us from at the moment?
Hey, thanks for having me! Right now I am in Hamburg, I am on tour with RHODES. We are off to Utrecht tomorrow.
We’re now just over a year on since the launch of your label, Blank Dust. Congrats on passing this milestone. How has the experience been for you so far?
It’s been great. As well as releasing my own music, I have also put out EPs by KYONGPAUL, Craig Lowe and Julien Vertigo. I also put on a Blank Dust presents night at The Social in London and we are looking at doing a few more parties.
This October see’s the label’s eighth release arrive in the form of the ‘Melt Air’ EP courtesy of yourself. What can you tell us about this EP and what can the listeners expect?
Melt Air is a little more left leaning compared to my previous releases, more experimental dance music. The EP is an extension of my debut EP Blank Dust in terms of sound.
The second track on the EP, ‘Hold Back’ features the vocal talents of Natalia Salter. How did you and Natalia come to work together on this track and what was it like doing so?
Natalia and I have written a lot together over the last few years for other artists. We have both launched our own solo projects, so it was natural to get Natalia to sing on one of my tracks. I had the instrumental demo done, and the piano at the beginning is me just messing around on my old Wurlitzer Spinet Piano. Natalia came up with all the hooks, and the song idea and then we put it all together.
When we last spoke with you, around the time of the label’s launch, you were also working on preparing your live show which you eventually debuted in May of this year. How did it feel unveiling this?
Live show debut was amazing. I was so happy to do that and the vibe in The Social was electric that night. The Social is such a special venue. My good friend Patrick Krause came and did some lighting visuals for me (he also works with us in UNKLE), and my friend Hugh did sound, it was a real family affair ha. Since then I have done another show at Peckham Audio, London, with Vaarwell and Lake Turner, and hopefully will have a few more in the new year.
Earlier this year you debuted on Anjunadeep with your ‘Alter The Flow’ EP. Shortly after the EP’s release came a beautiful live performance recording of the EP at Asylum Chapel in London. What is like recording this alongside the EP’s featuring artists, RHODES, Låpsley and Taė?
It was such a dream to record that live performance. All 3 artists are friends of mine. We have all worked together in my studio writing for other artists projects. They are all so pro, talented and amazing and really makes me up my game. The location was amazing and Alex Stenhouse directed the video. I have another live video from Asylum Chapel coming for this EP which will be out in a couple of weeks.
On the same label, Anjunadeep, you were recently invited to remix for the longstanding Jon Gurd. How did it feel to be called up for this one and what was your creative process like for the remix?
I met Jon many years ago when he was a DJ at Slinky, Bournemouth. We are both from Portsmouth. I’ve been a fan of his for years. I asked him to remix my track Dalston from my first EP (on my remix EP Dust Blank), and in return I remixed Let Go. I wanted the remix to be a bit of a journey. A club track, but not a traditional club track. More experimental style synths, sounds and granular FX. I’m super happy with the way it turned out.
Steven, a pleasure to chat with you today! To round off, is there anything else in the works that you can share with us yet?
I have a remix EP coming after Melt Air called Air Melt with some amazing artists reworking my tunes. I also have another couple of remixes which I have done coming out on two great labels.
