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A Natural Evolution: Catching Up With Art Department

It's been four intense and tour packed years for Art Department's Jonny White and Kenny Glasgow since their debut LP, Drawing Board, dropped in 2011 on Crosstown Rebels. Not only have the pair kept up their consistently full tour schedule since, they’ve also maintained a comparatively dense lineage of releases flowing through their own imprint, no.19; and then there's also the matter of their party banner, Social Experiment, the one that they like to perform under wherever possible - be that at BPM this February, their residency at Ibiza's DC10 this summer just gone or right here in Farringdon, a week on Saturday. Returning to Room One, Art Department’s next session will be held in support of the duo’s freshly announced second album, Natural Selection. Set to showcase the pairing’s artistic evolution, combining the searing vocals of Glasgow with White’s keen ear for arrangements, the release comes served on a hot wave of anticipation, coming straight off the back of the critical acclaim their oh so very successful debut LP achieved. So, we caught up with White in the midst of the haze of the Ibiza closing parties to find out more about the concept of Natural Selection and exactly how the duo dealt with facing up to their difficult second album… So we’ve just hit the end of another summer party season – how was yours this year were there any particular stand out moments? Summer was mental as always. Between the festivals, holidays, Ibiza and opportunities that promoters have to use outdoor venues we always end up gigging what seems like almost every day during summer months. It's every DJ’s busiest time. Stand out moments are of course our time on the island doing Circoloco at DC10. This past Monday was the second last of the season and it was as busy as ever. It was a really stormy day, so all of the DC10 socialites who usually plant themselves on the back patio were forced into the club which made it one of the craziest of the season for me. Closing main room is our favourite slot and we lucked out with that one this week. We had also just flown in to Ibiza from a show at Panorama Bar the day before so playing our two favourite clubs back to back definitely made for a stand out weekend. Our Social Experiment at DC10 this summer just ahead of Burning Man was also a really special one. Almost a dream come true to have Nitin, Dennis Ferrer, Louie Fresco and Volta as guests in what we consider to be our home on the island. What’s it been like being based in Barcelona a birdy told me this is where you’ve based yourselves these days in between the touring? It's actually just myself in Barcelona. Kenny stayed in London since our first tour 5 years ago when we were living on whatever available surface we could find at Jamie Jones' house which was like a flophouse for DJ's at the time… I had to bounce and find something in Europe where I could sleep before it killed me. So I've been in BCN for about 4 years now and I love it. We've got an amazing family here. Audiofly, Davide Squilace, Dubfire, Maceo Plex, Guti, Robie Akbal, Martin Buttrich, Maher Daniel, Jade are all living here and believe it or not we all get together quite often. I just had the lot plus girlfriends and the rest of the BCN family over the other night to welcome Brohn to his new home as he just moved out here from Oz as well. As people who spend majority of our lives on the road, it’s really nice to come home to something like that, a place where you have real family to shake off the road with.
"It started out as a total mind-fuck to be perfectly honest, thinking we have to out do ourselves and top something that we've done, as well as deliver something that hundreds of thousands of our current fans won't be disappointed by."
And I guess the most recent and biggest news this year is your album Natural Selection. How did this come together do you have time to put to down ideas on the road or did you go into the studio with a specific vision to record the album? Yeah this is a big one, especially considering we haven't really put out much music since The Drawing Board. We've been touring so heavily that it doesn't really allow for much time to write and I'm not one for trying to write without a studio on air planes or in hotel rooms. We took some time off late last year in Toronto to be in the studio, back in the city where we wrote the Drawing Board so a ton of it was written last year. There's a huge difference between this album and the last. The idea for us was to write more of an artist album that represents where we're at right now. How the artistic direction of the AD project has evolved and matured since the 1st one. It's a really difficult thing, mentally, when you're sitting down to write an album off the back of the success of an album that was as successful as TDB. There's a pressure and awareness of expectation that should never be a part of the creation process. It started out as a total mind-fuck to be perfectly honest, thinking we have to out do ourselves and top something that we've done, as well as deliver something that hundreds of thousands of our current fans won't be disappointed by. Back when we wrote the drawing Board we were just writing. Free-flowing ideas with nothing to lose and maybe a lot to prove but no real success to speak of or to box us in. The other side of that coin is how all of the people, and by people I mean press, who praised everything we did before the success inevitably turn on you when you're no longer their pocket underground artist. We know that there are those out there waiting to shit on whatever we do because everyone can't wait to rain on a project that has gone above ground, they hear that voice in their heads louder than they hear the music you're writing for them to listen to. Weather you acknowledge it or not, it's just another bit of weight on our shoulders going in to the writing process. We thought that going back to Toronto, putting ourselves back in the place where it all started would definitely effect the sound, for better or for worse and once we started writing we were quickly back to not really giving a fuck about everything that I just mentioned and we just did our thing.. so in the end I think we've ended up with a really honest LP. Were there any particular sounds or ideas you were drawing from in the making of the album? I wouldn't say that no. It really is just more of a picture of a particular time for us. It's AD 4 years later. But it isn't AD for a nightclub, it's just AD. What does the album’s title ‘Natural Selection’ signify for you as the album’s title? Well the definition of Natural Selection refers to the evolution of an organism, how traits become more or less common over time based on the organism's environment. Thought it made sense as it had been 4 years since the last album and this was really meant to show everyone where we're at now. Of course our environment, experiences and relationships over the past 4 years have been intense, fast paced and quite different from what it was before the project took off so we thought it was appropriate. It's the natural evolution of Art Department. What’s the dynamic like between you both in the writing process do you each have your specific roles and areas where your talents are stronger? Absolutely, for one, I can't sing to save my life so Kenny's taking care of that bit. Even the writing process has changed quite a bit over the years and specifically for this album. The writing is almost split down the middle with us writing songs independently and then coming together to finalize them whereas on The Drawing Board, a lot of basic ideas were just written by Kenny and then handed off to me to turn into a song, kind of an assembly line. Kenny's written more of the vocal records of course where i was more focussed on creating a bit more of a landscape and songs that are going to make the overall album more dynamic. In the end, the combination has made for a really interesting record with a lot of depth.
"It's not showing up to a party, jumping on and doing your thing. Rather, we're each part of a cohesive overall sound of the night and something really special can happen when everyone is paying attention to that."
When you’re coming to RM1 next you’re bringing your party banner Social Experiment – it’s a concept you’ve already toured a lot this year what makes this different from a usual Art Department or no.19 event? This is I guess our 4th Social Experiment at fabric? This time we're joined by Nitin, Volta, Brohn and of course Craig Richards who we love to have play the fabric shows with us. Craig is actually one of the key elements that makes our SE events at fabric different and special. I've always really admired Craig and his skills as a DJ, not to mention he's awesome to hang out with. We have been doing more and more of these events around the world each year, this year being the most and the main difference between this and just an AD show is the fact that everyone involved is conscious of the fact that this is a special event that we get to do. We're invited into one of the best clubs in the world to create an evening long experience for everyone. It's not showing up to a party, jumping on and doing your thing. Rather, we're each part of a cohesive overall sound of the night and something really special can happen when everyone is paying attention to that. It’s a three month tour it’s pretty densely packed with gigs which I guess you’re no strangers to – what do you love the most about being on the road? Yeah the tour looks intense when you have it in front of you. I saw the tour poster and took a deep breathe but it really is just our standard schedule in terms of the number of shows. Favorite thing on the road, that’s a tough one. I mean, there are a lot of amazing things about touring the world like circus animals, there are the people you meet, the people you know, the parties, the after parties, the food etc etc… But i think it's still the same thing it was when we started. Playing music.
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