Introducing: Sylphe & their fabric Promo Mix

It's an interesting proposition: an almost anonymous series of releases on a new label that seem to stand out above the typical work of a fledgling and unknown producer. But when the material sounds defiantly like tracks made by artists who've been around for a while already, having cut their teeth and already established themselves and their studio capabilities now wanting to explore a different avenue than the one they have become form, it’s kind of a different thing altogether. It’s not that new a thing, we've witnessed it in the fully formed tracks of the Hotflush signed duo, Dense and Pika quite recently, but next Saturday's RM1 debutants Sylphe (aka Goldie Hawn and Micawber) are such artists too, having released records on their imprint of the same name with little to no information, over the last 10 months. They've definitely caught our (and a lot of other people’s) attention, garnering recognition for their slightly weird and metallic sounding, machine-made techno. Following that simple notion that releasing quality tracks on quality vinyl pressings is enough to let the music speak for themselves the duo are still maintaining their anonymity so we wanted to use this opportunity to give them a further platform to discuss their work, so we asked them a few introductory questions… Download: Sylphe - fabric Promo Mix Each release you’ve put out has a track from Holdie Gawn and one from Micawber – I’m presuming these are 2 distinct and separate producers right? Yes, this is correct, Holdie Gawn and Micawber are 2 distinct and separate producers, working in different studios. However, we share the same influences and principles. The idea of Sylphe is to focus on the sound of the label as a whole and not so much as individual artists. It is kind of like an ongoing conversation between your tracks, having 2 each complimenting each other on each release, how do you go about picking tracks for each release? Indeed, this is how we roll. There is an ongoing conversation between our tracks and also the two of us, as we are constantly giving feedback to each other and collaborate to finish off each release (each one helps the other to put the final touches in the tracks). Regarding the selection of the tracks, what we normally do is simply create music for a period of time and then reflect on it, listen to it for couple of months. Then we select the two tracks that we find more interesting to be combined. Do you intend to carry on with these split releases for future Sylphe releases? That was the original idea. We think that it is very important to establish the sound of the label this way. This is why we decided for the first 5 releases to be in split format, in order to be able to let people know our musical identity. In the future, we will have a Holdie Gawn or Micawber only EP and we also have plans for some other artists, under their own secret monikers as well. I know you’re no newcomers to the scene, can you explain about why you made that choice to present your music with no attachment to your previous work? The truth is that since before we launched the label, we have already decided to present and attach this project to our previous work. When the time is right, we will make the connection between our real identities and the Sylphe project. However, the connection hasn't been made just yet, due to personal reasons. Does it mean you’ve also decided to move away from your past style of music completely? As you might assume from the previous question, the answer is no. We are happy and satisfied with our previous work and this only a side project to our main artist names, which is what we mainly focus on; we have both several upcoming EPs signed in various other record labels, which are due to drop in 2013 and 2014. It must’ve helped to have that history though? Did you even keep your identity secret from your other producer/DJ associates? Or have you totally let the music speak alone for itself? Our main goal is indeed to let the music speak alone for itself. However, there are only a few close good friends from the music business who know who are behind this project. We believe it is essential that our real identities remain hidden until the right time has come. And when DJing and presenting Sylphe in this mix and your forthcoming RM1 appearance is it just a chance to get out a different part of your record collection or have you been altering your music purchasing process since establishing Sylphe? The creation of Sylphe hasn't changed our DJ approach at all. However it has helped us explore our producing capabilities and has given us the chance and freedom to release any record that we like, any way we like.