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More than five months out from the event, Lightning In a Bottle has announced the lineup for its 2025 festival in May.
The top of the bill features the indefatigable John Summit, U.K. wizard Jamie xx, elder statesmen turned maisntage hero Four Tet, psych-surf rockers Khruangbin, L.A.’s finest Channel Tres, house majesty The Blessed Madonna, British ’90s rave architects Underworld, bass leader Subtronics, Manchester star Salute and Shygirl, who’s coming off her recent run as support on Charli XCX and Troye Sivan’s Sweat Tour.
The bill also includes a collection of all-stars including TroyBoi, Claude VonStroke, Flowdan, Sammy Virji, Tinlicker, Peekaboo, Joy Orbinson and many more.
Lightning In a Bottle will return to its home at Buena Vista Lake near Bakersfield, Calif. on May 21-25, over Memorial Day weekend. Lightning In a Bottle producers the Do Lab are announcing the festival’s lineup notably early this year, with the bill coming nearly two months before it’s typical January drop date. Coachella 2025 also released its lineup ahead of schedule, with that announce coming in November, rather than its typical early to mid-January announce date.
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The Do Lab, in fact, have another event to announce between now and Lightning In a Bottle, as the company also produces a stage annually at Coachella. The lineup for this stage is forthcoming, with these rosters typically featuring largely electronic music and adding to the already hefty collection of electronic artists on the Coachella 2025 bill.
Happening annually in Southern California since 2004, Lightning In a Bottle is known for its freewheeling atmosphere and focus on art and immersive installations and experiences. The festival presents music on more than six stages and also offers educational talks, yoga, sustainability workshops, wellness activities and other sundry fun.
The festival had its biggest ever presale back in June, with the remaining tickets going on sale Dec. 6.
See the lineup below:
Lightning in a Bottle
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Chace’s brand-new single “Tunnel Vision” was officially released on Tuesday (Nov. 26), marking his first step into the spotlight as a pop artist and the culmination of two years of preparation.
For Chace, this is not only an exploration of musical styles, but also a significant milestone in his career. Born in 1998 into a musical family in Jiangsu, China, Chace (Zhu Yihan) received professional training in jazz drums and piano from an early age, showcasing extraordinary talent in music. He began producing music at the age of 9 and signed with a Dutch record label at 16, launching his career as a professional musician.
In 2016, he made his debut at Belgium’s Tomorrowland and, in 2017, became the first Chinese artist to perform on Tomorrowland’s main stage, forever changing the presence of Chinese artists on the global music scene. Since then, he has continued to shine as a DJ and producer at top-tier international music festivals such as EDC, Ultra and Creamfields. In 2024, Chace became the first Chinese artist to sign with one of North America’s major record labels, BMG, further showcasing his ability to transcend genres and boundaries with “Tunnel Vision.”
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“Tunnel Vision” is a nostalgic pop electronic track, a tribute to Chace’s musical idol Michael Jackson. The song evokes memories of the golden 1980s, blending distinct rhythms and melodies with an infectious dance groove. Its polished production highlights Chace’s exceptional skills as a producer.
The music video for “Tunnel Vision” is equally innovative, directed and edited by Chace himself. Filmed entirely using an iPhone, it tells an eccentric story set three minutes before a train’s arrival. With its narrative charm, action sequences and high-speed shots, the music video delivers a visually compelling experience, pushing creative boundaries and demonstrating Chace’s burgeoning talent as a filmmaker.
“Tunnel Vision” is now available worldwide, but this is just the beginning of Chace’s musical journey. With more exciting projects on the horizon, he is poised to bring fresh, innovative works to his global audience.
EDSea set sail for its second voyage earlier this month, bringing a cruise ship full of ravers to the Electric Sea. The unforgettable Belize-bound experience is Insomniac’s spin on their successful Electric Daisy Carnival festival — which occurs annually in Las Vegas, NV and Miami, FL — but with a tropical twist. This year’s lineup was stacked with some of the most exciting names in dance music, from more established acts like Dillon Francis, Sara Landry and Subtronics to emerging acts including AYYBO, J. Worra and Levity.
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While the lineup of what felt like nonstop sets was exciting, what made the voyage special was the slate of experiences for fans to enjoy. From on-board activities to surprise sets, see what you missed below — and if you want to experience EDSea, tickets are available now for the festival’s third voyage on November 1-6, 2025 from Miami to Harvest Caye, Belize.
Fireworks shine behind the cruise ship at EDSea’s Sail Away Party
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Sail Away Party & FireworksThe grandeur of EDSea began in Miami with the Sail Away Party, featuring Chris Lorenzo on the kineticOCEAN stage. His electrifying set was paired with a massive fireworks show, starting the cruise with a bang (literally).
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Surprise B2B Female DJ SetThe only bond stronger than the one between ravers is the one between women in the scene, as proven by Sara Landry, Mary Droppinz, Jenna Shaw, Coco & Breezy, Lucille Croft, VNSSA and J. Worra. Watching the wide range of sonically diverse women play back-to-back was an empowering glimpse into the future of dance.
EDSea embraced a variety of themes, including Under the Electric Sea
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Theme Days (and Nights!)EDSea attendees made the festival their runway as they served bold and creative looks inspired by the provided themes. From Neon Swim to Safari Sunrise, each themed day and night transformed the ship into a new experience of celebration and self-expression.
Surprise Sunrise in BiminiThe Bimini beach party was a day of sun, sand and celebration — a day that went on even longer than announced, with a surprise announcement that the party would extend until after sunrise. The magic of EDSea shone through as dawn broke with an unexpected set from Eli Brown, making the already unforgettable day even better.
Wreckno, Sara Landry, Coco & Breezy and Lucille Croft onstage during Wreckno’s Catwalk Competition
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On-Board ActivitiesInsomniac made boredom a complete impossibility thanks to a well-curated lineup of experiences from morning through the night. Some fan favorites included the EDSea Character Brunch, where costumed performers mingled with attendees; Wreckno’s Catwalk Competition, a fierce competition of self-expression with special guest judges Sara Landry, Coco & Breezy and Lucille Croft; and Slander’s Super Smash Bros Tournament, a high-energy showdown hosted by the duo themselves.
Having FOMO? Tickets are available now for the festival’s third voyage on November 1-6, 2025 from Miami to Harvest Caye, Belize.
Back in 2007, Diplo and Switch were ready to launch the music they’d been working on together; they just needed to figure out what to call themselves. They each chose a bunch of words at random, wrote them on pieces of paper and threw them in a hat. They pulled two out, first was “major” and the second was “lazer.”
With that, one of the most influential dance music projects of the late 00s and 2010s was christened.
Billboard News recently spoke with Diplo and Switch for a rare joint interview, with the duo discussing the origins of Major Lazer and the 15-year anniversary of the group’s debut album, Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do.
The pair first met at Fabric London, realizing, Switch says, that “we both had a soft spot for Jamaican music at the time, and we were both doing our individual sounds, so it was a good excuse for us to come together and do stuff.”
Both producers had been working with M.I.A. on her albums Arular and Kala, with Diplo calling her “the catalyst for our music.” Shortly thereafter, the guys were making monthly trips to Jamaica to make music, falling into the local music community and having Jamaican artists including Vybz Cartel and TKTK record music that would ultimately end up on the Major Lazer debut.
They knew they were doing something right when they heard their track “Pon de Floor at a gas station in Kingston, realizing that their music was, Switch says, “penetrating this market that we felt was very special.” From Jamaica, they took the sound to the U.K., where the pair played one of their first big shows at London’s Notting Hill Carnival. Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do was released on June 16, 2009, hitting No. 169 on the Billboard 200 the next month.
The catalog of the group — which included Diplo, Walshy Fire and Jillionaire after Switch’s departure and now features Walshy Fire and Diplo alongside Ape Drums — has since aggregated 4.8 billion streams, according to Luminate.
“With our videos and everything we did, [Major Lazer] would be cancelled [nowadays] before we even started,” says Diplo. “Because people wouldn’t have given us a chance. They would have been like ‘We don’t really understand this and this isn’t correct.’ But back then, nobody really gave a shit. They were like, ‘I like the way this sounds.’ Today there’s too many tastemakers and rules.”
The group continued having breakthrough moments, with Beyoncé sampling “Pon de Floor on her 2011 smash “Run the World (Girls)” and Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s “Lean On” becoming what was, at the time, Spotify’s most streamed song of all time.
“We had really invented something with the Major Lazer language,” Diplo continues, “but by the second project we were able to make records that were actually hits. It was awesome to see our trajectory, something so chaotic and then to build something that made sense for people.”
Watch the full interview above to hear the pair talk about why Switch left the group, why Diplo thinks “Get Free” is Major Lazer’s best song and what it’s like working with Beyoncé in the studio.
This week in dance music: Charli XCX performed “Sympathy Is a Knife” and “360” on Saturday Night Live, Skrillex announced that his next project will be his last with Atlantic Records, Giorgio Moroder was named as the recipient of an upcoming lifetime achievement award from The Society of Composers & Lyricists, Ultra Music Festival added more than 50 artists to the lineup for its March festival in Miami, Coachella announced its 2025 lineup (a third of which is made up of electronic artists), Tomorrowland Winter dropped the bill for its March event in the French Alps, Troye Sivan was a big winner at the 2024 ARIA Awards, Pawsa announced a major show at London’s Gunnersbury Park this August and Charli XCX announced four dates for the North American Brat arena tour.
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And of course, there’s the fuel that makes it all run. These are the best new dance tracks of the week.
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Martin Garrix, “Told You So”
Dutch mainstay Martin Garrix links with New Jersey-born singer/songwriter Jex for the sugary dance pop single “Told You So.” As the duo tell it, the track — out on STMPD RCRDS/Eddie O Entertainment/Casablanca Records — has origins in TikTok, where Jex posted a video of her singing the song’s hook. Garrix then reached out to ask about doing the production, with the result being his eighth single of 2024. Of the track, Jex says that “from writing this hook alone in my apartment, to Martin finding it and bringing it to life, this entire thing has been a dream come true.” Garrix plays Omnia in Las Vegas tonight and Marquee in Las Vegas tomorrow.
Subtronics & Alison Wonderland, “No One Does It Like”
Bass leaders Subtronics and Alison Wonderland join forces together for their collaborative track “No One Does It Like,” with the result being as hard, sharp and heavy as you might hope. Out on Subtronics’ own Cyclops Recordings, the song is pure-riding-the-rail dubstep and follows the pair’s work on their remix of Creeds’ “Push Up.” Alison Wonderland performs this weekend in Las Vegas, while Subtronics will play the Apocalypse Festival in Long Beach, Calif. on Nov. 30.
Rusko, “Wassup”
The British bass pioneer returns with his first solo single in two and a half years, the frenetic “Wassup.” Out on Monstercat Uncaged, the track is deliciously unhinged jump up d’n’b and also the lead single from an EP set to drop next year. The producer says “Wassup” was started last year on tour in Australia “and ever since, has been a puzzle I couldn’t quite crack and get just right… but it’s always been stuck in my head. After adding ‘Wassup’ into my DJ sets, I had an earth-shattering break-through, and within the first couple of nights spinning the tune, it was finished!”
Above & Beyond, “Another Breakdown”
The gentlemen of Above & Beyond are having a big week, as the trio was listed on the Coachella 2025 posted that dropped Wednesday, the day before the group released “Another Breakdown.” The track’s celestial production has the same thoughtful quality that defines the entire Above & Beyond oeuvre, and is also infused with the soaring trance elements that are the trio’s signature. Another Breakdown comes from Above & Beyond’s forthcoming EP Tranquility Base Vol. 2, coming December 6 on their own Anjunabeats label.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Joe Goddard, Neptunes EP
Los Angeles-based producer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & U.K. producer, DJ (and Hot Chip member) Joe Goddard get together for their gorgeous three-track collaborative EP, Neptunes. A no-skips situation, the EP (which also includes two remixes) has a stunner of an opening track, with the pair saying that “Neptunes” stems from Goddard’s wish to make a song reminiscent of Pharrell and Chad Hugo’s game-changing production work as Neptunes. “I loved what the rhythm made me feel when I first heard it,” Smith says of the track. “I actually thought he was tapping into Neptune as a planet, and the qualities I felt it possesses. So my side of things brought out more space-themed sounds as a result.” The project is out on Domino’s Smugglers Way imprint.
Dave Mackay, The Looking Chamber
The English pianist, keyboardist and composer takes a turn into electronic production, with affecting results. His 11-track debut album, The Looking Chamber, is smart and stylish experimental synth music, that emphasizes Mackay’s ability to make music that sounds like the machines employed in the production process are actually speaking. The album is out on Colorfield Records.
London DJ PAWSA has announced his biggest U.K. show to date, with a homecoming gig at the city’s Gunnersbury Park next summer.
The dance producer, born David Esekhile, will host PAWSA In The Park – All Day Long in the capital’s Gunnersbury Park on Aug. 8, with more acts to be revealed at a later date. The news follows the 34-year-old’s recent viral success with his latest single, a reimagined version of The Adventures of Stevie V’s iconic 1989 track “Dirty Cash (Money Talks).” Watch the video below.
A fan presale will begin at 10 a.m (GMT) on Nov. 27. General tickets are set to go live at 10 a.m on Nov. 29 via Ticketmaster.
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As one half of the duo behind scene-leading label Solid Grooves, PAWSA has enjoyed an ever-burgeoning career over the past decade. Since 2016 he has held annual residencies in Ibiza and regularly tours clubs across mainland Europe. In 2021, he won Best Producer at DJ Mag’s Best of British Awards.
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PAWSA released his debut EP, Pilot, in 2014 via the renowned Lost Records label, a key player in the U.K.’s techno and house music scenes. The following year, he founded Solid Grooves alongside DJ Michael Bibi – the sister company of Solid Grooves club night, which hosts regular happenings in London, Ibiza and Berlin.
This past summer has seen PAWSA perform at Circoloco Amsterdam and Chicago’s ARC Music, among many other major festivals. In July, he made a surprise appearance at Bibi’s One Live event at London’s Finsbury Park.
Meanwhile, Gunnersbury Park, which can hold up to 30,000 fans, has become something of a central hub for major British dance music events in recent years. Throughout summer 2024 alone, the park played host to the electronic-focused Waterworks Festival, a drum ‘n’ bass weekender (DnB Allstars), and headline gigs from Annie Mac and Fisher.
The winter edition of Belgian dance mega-festival Tomorrowland has announced a sprawling lineup for its event this March in the French Alps. The bill includes Tomorrowland regulars Afrojack, Amelie Lens, Steve Aoki, Axwell, Nervo, Armin van Buuren and Kolsch, along with a flurry of acts including Agents of Time, Joris Voorn, LP Giobbi, Hugel, Nina […]
The 2025 Coachella lineup has been announced unusually early, and again — as always — the bill is heavy on electronic artists. Some of the biggest electronic artists who’ll be playing the prestige festival next spring include U.K. legends The Prodigy, progressive trance icons Above & Beyond, EDM architect Zedd, German trio Keinemusic, Brazilian star […]
Deadmau5 has signed with CAA for representation in all areas.
The Canadian electronic music producer will work closely with CAA on his future endeavors, including global touring, gaming and tech-focused efforts, among other opportunities.
“Deadmau5 has redefined the intersection of music, art, and technology, and we’re thrilled to be a part of his next chapter,” Deadmau5’s agent at CAA, Ferry Rais-Shaghagh, tells Billboard.
Given Deadmau5’s many projects across music, tech, art and beyond, his move to CAA was a function of the agency’s ability to offer opportunities with its other divisions in addition to live touring. The artist was previously represented by UTA, who he signed with in 2020.
Deadmau5 has a long list of accomplishments going back two decades. His debut album was released in 2005, and in 2011, he became the first electronic artist to play the mainstage at Lollapalooza. He’s since played major festivals including Coachella, Tomorrowland, Electric Daisy Carnival, Ultra Music Festival, Outside Lands, Creamfields UK, and Bonnaroo. In 2022, his set as Kx5 with Kaskade set a record for the biggest ticketed global headliner dance event of 2022, according to Billboard Boxscore.
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His catalog has 1.7 billion on-demand official U.S. streams where Deadmau5 billed as the primary artist, according to Luminate. Hits including “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff,” “Strobe” and the Kaskade collaboration “I Remember” helped introduce electronic music to mainstream audiences, with his music and live performances also infusing boundary pushing technology. His 2019/20 U.S. cubev3 tour, featuring production of his own design and implementation, ranked in the Top 10 of Pollstar’s top tours globally.
Meanwhile, his label, Mau5trap, has released music since 2007.
The artist, whose real name is Joel Zimmerman, is managed by Dean Wilson at Circuit Group/Seven20. His team also includes attorney is Dina LaPolt from LaPolt Law, P.C. and publicist Alexandra Greenberg at Falcon Publicity PR.
As Billboard speaks to British dance duo Maribou State, who are readying to release their third album Hallucinating Love, an epiphany strikes the pair. Liam Ivory reminds his longtime friend and bandmate Chris Davids, that we’re speaking on the year anniversary of the day that Davids had life-changing brain surgery.
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In late 2021, Davids began suffering from debilitating headaches and was often struck down with crippling pain. He was eventually diagnosed with a chiari malformation which, he explains, is when the lower part of the brain herniates into the spinal canal putting pressure on the brainstem and spinal fluid. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons estimate it impacts less than 1 in 1000 people. It is an injury that is perhaps not well suited for someone who needs to be locked to the intricacy of music production, or peering into a laptop screen trying to piece the whole song together.
“It had a profound effect on the music,” Davids tells Billboard of the LP, which was written and recorded as they worked their way through multiple challenges on the personal front. “A lot of the music was shaped around the theme of struggle, and creating to remove yourself from a difficult period and projecting into something that’s brighter and more hopeful.”
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Hallucinating Love arrives after a particularly torrid period since their last LP, 2018’s Kingdoms in Colour. That record, which included a collaboration with Khruangbin, landed at No.25 on the U.K. Official Albums Charts and its songs collectively boast over 271 million streams on Spotify. The tour ended with a sold-out show at London’s O2 Academy Brixton (5,000 capacity) and saw growing headline gigs in North America and mainland Europe.
Maribou State
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The pair got their start in 2011 releasing their Habitat EP on Fat Cat Records, and would later release singles and EPs on Fatboy Slim’s Southern Fried label. They later signed to beloved London-based dance label Ninja Tune, home to releases by Bonobo, Barry Can’t Swim and Peggy Gou, and released their debut album Portraits in 2015, which stars “Midas,” a single was certified Silver by the BPI and sits at 152 million streams on Spotify. Elsewhere they’ve remixed records by Lana Del Rey and Radiohead during their decade-long career.
When Maribou State’s last tour concluded in late 2019 and the world went into lockdown soon after, the problems began. The pair had lived a high-octane life on the road, hopping from city to city, partying, neglecting themselves but putting on bigger and better shows. The confines of being at home impacted their wellbeing and pulled into focus mental health challenges that had been pushed to one side. Davids was battling insomnia and was coming to terms with an ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), while Ivory was living with increased anxiety.
Even so, their star grew on social media and streaming despite a period of inactivity; next year, they’ll headline three shows at London’s 10,000-capacity Alexandra Palace, and take in prestigious North American venues including New York City’s Terminal 5 and Toronto’s History.
Hallucinating Love (released Jan. 31, 2025) has emerged as their most thematic and sonically cohesive record to date. Their sound, which fuses psych-rock, funk, retro-soul and banging beats, is warmer, looser and more attention-grabbing than anything before. “Other Side” with key collaborator Walker is as direct a pop moment they’ve ever had, while “Peace Talk” has the feel of an undiscovered cult classic, such is the majesty of the swelling string refrain.
As they release their new single “Dance On The World,” the pair tell us about their difficult period, the pressure of being on the road and staying loyal to their collaborators.
It’s been a six-year gap between the release of your last two studio albums. When you finished touring Kingdoms In Colour, were you anticipating a break like this?
Liam: It took us by surprise. Historically we have taken quite a while to write albums compared to other artists, but through a number of things happening in the world and in our lives personally it just took a hell of a lot longer than we anticipated. There were times where it felt like it was never going to happen.
A lot has happened between lockdown, medical issues and focusing on your mental health. How do you look back on the experience in totality?
Chris: With mixed feelings to be honest. It was a really important process for us to go through, personally and creatively. We learned a lot about ourselves in that time. We’re grateful that we were in a position where we were able to press pause for a minute during the writing process, and to look after ourselves and not just push through and break ourselves when doing it.
Liam: We’re also lucky to be able to say that things are in a good place for us now. It’s easier to look back with rose-tinted glasses on as we managed to find a way through that period which we might not be able to do if we were still struggling. It’s nice to be able to box that off.
The adjustment from being on the road to being back home was clearly difficult…
Liam: When we were touring we weren’t looking after ourselves very well and we were partying quite a lot. So transitioning back to normal life either way would have been difficult, but we landed right at the start of the pandemic. We went from touring on a super high-octane lifestyle to being shut at home.
We were quite separate at that point, too. I’d just moved in with my partner and friend; Chris was back home with his family. We came back together when things eased up and started working together and then it became a very supporting relationship.
Chris, can you share more details on what you’ve had to go through?
Chris: In 2021, I started getting these chronic debilitating headaches. We were staying over at the studio one time, and I remember I woke up one morning and when I stood up I was bent over in pain. I got an MRI scan and a few months later I got diagnosed with a chiari malformation.
That was a shock. We’d been going really hard to make this record but we were both not really in the right place to be doing that. We weren’t feeling super creative and we were doing it for the sake of doing it rather than because we wanted to. Getting that diagnosis gave me a reason to take a break, so we both had a good few months out at that point.
I was trying to plough through and I’m someone who doesn’t like to admit defeat. In reality, it’s something I should have just got sorted and then came back. But it’s hard to push aside something that you love doing.
Liam, It must have been hard to see your friend go through that?
Liam: Yeah, the thing with Chris is that he’s so bloody stoic so he would just push on. We’d be in sessions and then he’d keel over in pain and just say ‘give me a minute’ and then shrug it off. I didn’t know what to do as it didn’t feel like we should be carrying on… but he was up for it and there was a deadline looming. Some additional insight into how little Chris will admit defeat: when he was in hospital, he was commenting on the artwork, replying to emails like a week or two after surgery. Just crazy.
How did this period inform the music you ended up writing for Hallucinating Love?
Liam: When we write we usually hire an Air BnB, take our studio and some collaborators and hash it out until we have the ideas. Those trips are peppered throughout the period that we recorded the album in. Looking back, one or two of those trips were really difficult; none of us were in a good headspace at all, really low mental health, really struggling. Ironically the songs that came from those sessions are some of the most hopeful and uplifting, but they’re really specific to a moment and you can put yourself back into that time.
You’ve mentioned that “Blackoak” is a bit of a love letter to the British dance scene. How did that manifest itself?
Chris: Over the years mine and Liam’s tastes have been very broad. We were into lots of different things and Liam was into loads of hardcore, metal and punk, but the one thing we always aligned on was dance music and artists like Prodigy, Aphex Twin and some British scenes like happy hardcore. We went to [Warwickshire dance festival] Global Gathering, to [London club] Fabric and then also saw Daft Punk live together. Over the years we’ve made club-influenced music but influenced by more contemporary stuff like future garage, but “Blackoak” felt like more of a homage to what we listened to growing up.”
There’s also familiar collaborators like Holly Walker, but new names too with Andreya Triana. It must be nice to have developed a consistent community around yourself?
Liam: We’re not ones for setting up random sessions with people and seeing how it goes. We need to have a relationship with them first. The way we write music is quite a long arduous process for us, and you need to be around people you really connect with.
Chris: The whole connection thing is so important. Because we’ve tried lots of sessions with other vocalists and nine times out of 10, it doesn’t work. We had a collaboration with Khruangbin on the last album and I’m so glad we got it to work in the end, but it was lots of sessions we had to do over a long period of time. Like Liam said, there’s something to feeling comfortable and once we’ve established a friendship, things can be so much more fluid.
Holly takes the lead on a number of tracks, and you’ve worked together on several songs now. What is that bond like?
Chris: We just clicked with Holly. She’s incredibly funny, really intelligent and an amazing lyricist. We wrote a couple of songs that got put on the first record, and we struck up a good writing relationship from there. And it’s definitely not been a totally easy relationship over the years, there’s been a lot of push and pull and quite strong creative forces on both sides, but I think that’s what has created such great music between us.
You mentioned touring taking its toll last time. How are you feeling about getting back out on the road?
Liam: One thing we navigate is being several years older and being in very different places in our lives and trying to protect a quality of life. Although we’ve not been out touring yet, there’s a lot of conversations about what it’s going to be like and how we’re going to get through it. It’s going to be a very different affair to when we were out last time in 2019.
And you want to create as great a show as you can, right?
Chris: There’s such high expectations of what a show should look like in terms of production and everything that’s put on both on stage and behind the scenes. Not just musically. It’s also more of a challenge to create content because labels want so much more from the gigs, so there is that pressure that touring costs a lot more but also you need to spend a lot more to meet the standard. You can’t just do an Oasis and go out and stare at your shoes and a couple of lights in the background.
Liam: We’re also so fortunate that the fanbase feels more tangible than it ever has. We’ve been lucky that over the years, even when we’ve taken a break, it’s just grown and gone from strength to strength in parallel while we were struggling personally. It’s made us even more committed.