What was the first record you bought?
Fuck it – it was the Spice Girls’ Spice. I wish it was some weird Todd Edwards dubplate but that’s the truthful answer. I remember being blown away by it. I just love good pop music. Wannabe was such a good tune. Say You’ll Be There was also great. I got my Mum to go up and buy it for me. Emma Bunton was my favourite and she used to do that little nose scrunch – I loved that.
What song reminds you of your three sisters?
I have quite different relationships with all of my sisters. My eldest sister, Emily, I remember her loving 5ive – that song Keep On Moving. She had some hard times in her life in her late teens and that was her tune. Lucy used to love Shakespeare’s Sister, Stay. And then Charlie, my little sister, used to always rap to DJ Pied Piper. My parents are divorced and I lived with my Mum, so girls are a really important influence in my life.
Do you have a song that you would link to your parents’ break up?
No, but there is a song that I would link to my parents being happy. It’s by John Martyn and it’s called May You Never. The lyric is: “May you never lay your head down/ Without a hand to hold”. The way he sings it – it’s ridiculous. I cannot not cry when I hear that song. It is such an unbelievably beautiful piece of music.
Is there a perfect ballad?
One of my favourite songs of all time is Bonnie Rait’s I Can’t Make You Love Me. It’s the perfect ballad because it’s about longing. It’s about the absence of love – that’s one of the hardest things to come to terms with. Any number of emotions will give birth to something beautiful, if you give it the right amount of water and sunlight. It doesn’t have to be a specific sentiment. I just think that it has to be articulated in a way that is honest, a little bit weird and resonates. Cliches are cool because they let you know what you shouldn’t do.
What song made you want to be a producer?
I think that happened when I first started getting into dance music – early house and garage like MJ Cole and Todd Edwards. I loved the intricacies – the power of the bass and the sound moving through air and making my chest vibrate. I remember hearing it when I was about ten and just thinking, “What is this?” I experienced electronic music from a very young age and it took me to a safe place – away from the sadder things in my life. Bands are so boring to me because everything’s pre-defined. But electronic music has none of that attached to it. You can go from someone like Objekt who’s making dark Berlin techno to someone like Caribou who’s writing love songs. It’s just future music – music that’s not encumbered by people’s Dads telling them what to write. I think the best stuff is the more difficult stuff to listen to at first that demands a second listen. I’d describe what I make as sad dance music. I’m not bothered about drops. I’m bothered about that tender part in all of us that just wants to be loved. It’s very easy to get caught in a vacuous place.
Name a great sad dance tune?
Tears by Frankie Knuckles. Or Teardrops by Womack and Womack. They offer that feeling of being with people in a rave and the tune transcending everything – being melodic and sad and communal all at the same time. I think that’s what stays with people – a feeling that’s based more in our hearts than in our chests. Some tunes are just all about the ribcage, which I love as well. But I can’t cry at Skrillex.
What was the last record you bought?
I was really late on this – it’s a Rhye track called Woman. I bought it drunkenly with my friend the other night. I was like “Fuck me!” It just feels like achingly honest music. Some things don’t have to worry about being the best new music – they can just pick you up and be beautiful.