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Boasting a impressive stream of dynamic, forward-thinking records from label partners Idoru and Sian (amongst others) since its inception back in 2019, burgeoning Indie Dance imprint Manta Recordings now looks to continue its prolific run of first-rate label output with the announcement of its latest EP release, this time from hotly-tipped British Synthwave duo, Maximum Love. Warmly welcoming the budding fraternal outfit for their eagerly anticipated label debut, Maximum Love join Manta this October with their blistering New Wave cut, Sometimes.
Over 25 million streams to the good since emerging onto the scene with their critically acclaimed debut EP Midnight Astronaut back in 2014, brothers Jordi and Taylor now pull out all the stops with this latest retro cut, combining classic 80s influences and evocative, melancholic vocal lines with their unmistakably hazy retrospective soundscapes to masterful effect.
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music? Hey there, We are from a city called St. Albans in England, which is just a short way north from London. We first started getting an interest in creating music together as kids, just purely for our own amusement. It wasn't until quite a few years later that we wanted to write and produce songs seriously, maybe around 2011. Eventually, we put together a demo of our first EP "Midnight Astronaut" in late 2013, which we pitched to AWAL. Luckily they liked the music!
How is your sound evolving? What artists and genres do you enjoy mixing right now? A lot of our sound is just about trying to stay true to an original vision we have had since we started, but the more you learn, experiment and just create music, a natural evolution is kind of unavoidable. Music is a reflection of the mind of the creator at that point in time, everyone is on a journey in their life, and their state of existence is always changing.
How do you feel that your music influences or impacts your listeners? We try to make music that can have an affect on our listeners, whether its just making someone feel cool driving down the highway, or giving them a positive vibe. We're really pleased just to be able have people enjoy our art. When people write to us telling us that our music has got them through tough times, psyches them up for school, whatever it is... It's a crazy feeling, because this is music we've made in our bedrooms, a lot of our catalogue is made by teenagers that were still growing up. It is honouring to have people appreciating what we've made.
What projects are you working on right now? What can you tell us about your last job? Right now we have just come off the back of working on our new single "Sometimes", which is going to be released by Manta Recordings on 29th Oct. We're super excited to see how it goes down amongst our fans, they've been pretty patient in waiting for new music.
Where are you and what have you been doing now? We are at home in England, and recently we've been just trying to take it easy in between studio sessions. Doing things like gardening, sports, playing video games et cetera. It's good to take a break when you can, to refresh your mind. It makes coming back to work easier with a clear mind.
Has that sound changed a lot in recent years? What is your musical criteria? We try to always deliver the "Maximum Love" element in all of our music, the sounds that people know us to have and associate us with. When you listen to our first album Under the Shadow for example, followed by our last album Jupiter, you can definitely hear that they have some different energies. Yet both have the same kind of consistent sound in the alchemy of the music.
Do you feel safe now to play a more experimental sound? We've always felt that we can be ourselves with our music, we have no trouble experimenting, trying to create new interesting sounds and implementing them into our songs. As long as we capture the overall vibe that we're going for, we're happy.
We all know that the digital revolution has affected sales, but has it affected creativity? Without the digital revolution, bands like us probably wouldn't exist... The internet is an amazing tool. Back in the day, when the internet wasn't around (or as relevant), it was harder to break in to the game. Moving forward to today, anybody with a PC can make an album and put it on every major platform. It's difficult to put a verdict on whether that is good in the long run though.
Can you tell us what your present and future projects are? At the moment, we are working on our third album, which we aim to release sometime in 2022. After that, it is all a bit up in the air. It could be fun to try and collaborate with someone new maybe. We'll have to see what's in store as and when new opportunities come!
Maximum Love – Sometimes (including Remix from Latroit) is out now via Manta Recordings.
