“There’s more to Ireland than this,” a famous man once said. The “this” presumably referred to our idealized idea of Ireland as a land of rolling hills, perfectly churned butter, and endless pints of jet black stout sunk in smoke-suffused pubs by blokes clutching copies of Ulysses to their chest. Ireland might still be like that. We just don’t know.
Anyway, one young man who knows that there’s more to Ireland than that is Graeme S, producer, and owner of the Hsüan Records imprint. Hsüan have released records by the likes of Hackman, Sully, Eomac and, most intriguingly, DJ Earl from legendary footwork crew Teklife. Which brings us very nicely to footwork. Irish footwork.
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Irish footwork? Yes, we were surprised too, but Graeme S kindly decided to (virtually) nip into THUMP HQ to play his new collaborative EP with R&B vocalist Faiza. The Waiting On You EP is a jittery, disquieting, odd affair. In a good way, obviously. Bringing the likes of Kelela or the recent DJ Spinn and Jessy Lanza collaboration to mind, it’s a seriously slick run through dark-edged jungle, clanking footwork, and downtempo D&B doused in some seriously sweet vocals. Check out the whole thing out below, along with a quick chat with Graeme himself.
THUMP: Tell us a little bit about what the new record means to you. Describe it as floridly as possible.
Graeme S: I have a huge interest in working with vocalists and using the footwork/jungle template I tried to create something that I felt was unique within that spectrum. Overall the EP is an exploration in using darker textures and sounds. I was lucky to work with Faiza and she understood what I was trying achieve and her input was invaluable. Although we are both based in different countries and time zones (Ireland/Canada) it was a fluid process in exchanging ideas, audio clips and motivations. Overall it establishes the groundwork for a greater body of work.
How does a young Irishman get into footwork?
I have a strong interest in jungle and D&B and after hearing the Planet Mu Bangs and Works compilations my interest was piqued. I’m not from Chicago so I can’t make a ‘real’ footwork/juke record. It would seem culturally out of context to me. My own productions are hybrids — there’s footwork, jungle, Uk funky and anything else that catches my ear.
Reckon you’ll ever join Teklife?
Probably not, but I’ve huge respect for them. They’ve taken something they love doing and managed to share it with so many people. If it wasn’t for people like them pushing that sound I probably would’ve stopped making music two years ago.
Waiting On You is released on 21st September. Pre-order it here.
Follow Graeme S on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter
