Which artists influenced and inspired you the most growing up and why?

I was raised on a lot of prog rock and jazz growing up. Bands like Pink Floyd, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin were who I was listening to from a young age. My big brother got me into electronic music in my early teens. I pinched a copy of Trentemøller – The Last Resort and Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and thought: “What the fuck is this?” Aphex Twin, Four Tet, DJ Koze and Floating Points are all high on my list of influences but being honest everything around me is inspirational. Recently I moved in with one of my best mates James [Lacey] who’s always sending me new music that he receives through his design work. It's quite refreshing to have a stream of sound around the office constantly, especially in such strange times.

How has living in a pandemic for the past year been for you? Have there been many positives from spending so much more time at home and have you experienced many difficult moments?

Honestly, it's been a double-edged sword. It got me out of a rut with my day-to-day life and pushed me back into working in the creative industries. It also got me out of the UK and back to the Netherlands. Before the pandemic, I was chasing a Michelin star through my early-to-mid 20s. I then went into consultation and design in hotels and restaurants. The work was great, but the hours were tough. It was mentally draining. Anyway, covid shit on that so it gave me time to stop and work on music again, which I hadn't done since I lived in Rotterdam. 

I moved back to West Wales when covid hit back in March last year and after a few shit situations later I bailed with my dog and moved to Amsterdam in July 2020.

In terms of productivity, being away from production for so long and now having the time to produce music has given me a fresh ear with my own work. I am finally able to develop, revisit and finish ideas and sketches from over the past 10 years. The last year has been pretty mentally taxing and to say it hasn't been a struggle would be a huge lie. I am incredibly fortunate that I have a seriously great bunch of people around me and have a pretty strong support network. Moving away from the UK during a pandemic was hard at times but being able to keep up with my people is a blessing.

How have you found finishing tracks and mixing records during the last year? Has it been hard finding music and recording mixes with everything going on?

Stopping was the best thing for me, I was heading for a big fuck off burnout before covid hit and it really made me stop and think about things. I am so lucky to have been able to concentrate on sound and have really supportive mates around me. Motivating yourself to get projects done at the moment can be difficult as everything’s a bit bleak. My workflow is pretty structured, and my working background has maybe made me overly focused. When I’m working, I tend to start and finish a project in one sitting. That can be anywhere from three to 16 hours if it takes over. Then I just make the decision to keep it or get rid of it and move on.

Mixing is a different story though. I tend to go back-to-back with James and Malik [Kassim] (DJs as Retromigration) a lot just at home but recording is always a challenge. The biggest challenge being that no one remembers to hit record...