Now & Then: O'Flynn
Blissful house music creator O’Flynn selects the tracks past, present and future that have informed the flavour of his sound.
Fine-tuned house and blissful breaks awaits on 5th May as we welcome O’Flynn to Room 1 (and to fabric) for the very first time. Joining us off the back of the acclaimed album in collaboration with Frazer Ray Shimmer on Ninja Tune sub-label Technicolour, and even more recently his first solo release in two years, the glistening and blissed-out Spring banger 'Vesta', O’Flynn is establishing himself as a driving force in UK dance music.
Since his debut in the scene in 2015, O’Flynn has become a household name in the UK electronic dance scene. His productions have gained support from an array of high-calibre names such as Four Tet, Ben UFO, Gilles Peterson, James Blake, and Bonobo, his 2019 debut album Aletheia on Silver Bear Recordings established his reputation within the underground dance music scene and garnered him core critical acclaim.
"I will always reach for one of their [INVT's] tracks in a set to transition genre or if I need a hard roller..." – O'Flynn
More recently a collaboration with long-time collaborator Frazer Ray, Shimmer on Ninja Tune imprint Technicolour pays homage to iconic UK nightclubs and their role in providing escapism, and its lead singles received strong radio support across BBC R1, with editorial pick-ups from Resident Advisor and DJ Mag. In 2023, O’Flynn returns to his fun, disco-tinged roots while also exploring new textures and methods within his creative output, including working with select songwriters and collaborators, and continues to bring his addictive dancefloor energy to key clubs and festivals around the world, and to his ongoing residency on UK independent radio Rinse FM. His latest release 'Vesta' marks his return to solo producing, and it's a real sonic treat released just in time for the warmer, hazy, and euphoric Spring season.
"Vesta’ was one of the first ideas I laid down after working by myself again. I wasn't planning on finishing the idea, but it had such a clear connection with the people that it couldn't be ignored!"
And this Spring (5th May) O'Flynn will be joined in Room 1 by Hauke Freer and Matthias Reiling aka Session Victim for a live set of hardware delights, and fellow Rinse FM resident Amy Dabbs who we’re delighted to be welcoming back into the RM1 fold, this time for a B2B set with London-based new house and UKG DJ and selector Malaika. If that wasn’t enough to get you to pencil in a Friday night out, we’re also gearing up to welcome back deep and dynamic house head Harrison BDP and founder of Semi Delicious label Demi Riquísimo, for an in-depth, all night long in Room 2. Before all that kicks off, we touched base with the pioneering producer to get his top picks and selects past, present and future for our time-travelling feature Now & Then. Keep reading for a flavour of O’Flynn.
The Past: Justice - Waters of Nazareth
"Justice were my favourite band during my teenage years - Their style of production completely blew me away, I hadn’t heard anything like it before. Aside from the heavily distorted and compressed sound I read they cut up samples into almost microseconds and this provided the detail - you can hear this is almost all their tracks across the cross album. I could have picked any track from this album but ‘Waters of Nazareth’ always just bangs the hardest for me."
The Present: INVT - NAGUARA
"These guys have an amazing output at the moment - love pretty much everything they do. All the music has a really live jam and natural feel to it - I will always reach for one of their tracks in a set to transition genre or if I need a hard roller."
The Future: Ekhe - All Rise
"Jack (Ekhe) is my friend from university - we have collaborated on a few tracks including ‘Mesablanca Dub’, ‘Heat Flexx’ with Swordman Kitala and most recently on ‘Rosetta’ with Frazer Ray and Byulah. These are 3 of my favourite tracks I have ever been part of and a lot of that is down to Jacks ideas, musicality and taste. Jack can do incredibly hard music like ‘All Rise’ but also wrote the beautiful synth outro for ‘Rosetta’. I think this range of styles has the potential to be massively exciting for future projects on whatever he decides to do."
O'Flynn plays fabric on 5th May. New single 'Vesta' is out now.
