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Words: Kingsley Marshall
Last year something vicious emerged from Bristol's Ledge studios. Released on Breakbeat Culture, "Yes Man" saw Darren Beale and Mark Morrison attempting to appease Sian Evans twisted vocals through a series of abrupt horn stabs and a wild guitar lead. Drum and bass, slow-tempo, tech-trickery? Kosheen had arrived.
With the "Hide U" single blowing up on floors worldwide and an album forthcoming, Kingsley Marshall caught up with Mark and Sian to talk about the project.
"The idea of Kosheen had been floating around for a while," says Mark "In the past drum and bass had kept developing and moving forward but, for me, that seemed to stop a couple of years ago. I found it frustrating that the music had gone from something that was very universal to a narrower and narrower path. In a way it's cool with people going back to amen and that those old b-lines are still working but I've been through all that and wanted to do something a bit different and more forward thinking. On top of that, I was also increasingly thinking that a lot of the technical stuff was losing its soul and warmth, which is what drum and bass had always been about for me."
Continuing he says, "I chose to go in the opposite direction and had a clear idea of how I could expand on elements of drum and bass while still using them to broaden things out. A singer was part of that plan and, although both Darren and I had been working with a number of different people, it wasn't really happening. I'd heard Sian on a single from Colour Stone and thought that her vocals were incredible and figured I'd try and get in contact and get her over to my studio."
Sian chips in. "There was a bit of to and fro as Mark tried to hook up with me and I think Mark was quite nervous on the first session as he'd had such bad luck, but it came really easily in that he played a track and I just sung over it!"
"From there I introduced Sian to Darren," adds Mark. "She sang on something he was working on and we all just gelled basically. It was ideal as Sian brought in some finished songs that she'd written over the last few years and Darren and I had a big bank of material which we'd been working on."
"The beauty of it is in its comfort," says Sian. "We're not trying to fit a song into a drum and bass track, it just sort of comes together in more of a blend than a collision. Once we realised we had something that worked we started working more as co-writers, so all three of us will work at an idea and try to ensure that everything slots into place both structurally and production wise."
Mark elaborates on the writing process. "In the initial stages it's the same how we've worked in the past but that all changes when Sian comes in and does her thing as we start to build the track from there. I don't know if there's a hell of lot out there that's in a similar category."
Although the early material surfaced on Mark's own label, the trio have now moved to the Moksha imprint as Mark explains. "It was difficult initially as we'd worked on the material for a year or so, but no one really knew about it outside of a few friends and not having an outlet for the tracks was frustrating. We put the singles on Breakbeat Culture in an attempt to feed it in slowly and build a bit of profile for the band but both Darren and I were well aware that we had nothing other than some good music and a bit of experience in the drum and bass scene and were stuck really in the same position we'd been in since we'd started with no real money behind us. We approached a few other labels but Moksha were really the only people who we felt truly believed in what we were doing with had some form of plan as to what we could do."
"We'd heard some horror stories about the majors and felt they wouldn't be able to offer us the kind of help we felt we might perhaps need but Charles at Moksha was very supportive with us and encouraged us to develop in our own way."
Both are pleasantly surprised at the reaction to "Hide U," the first single to surface on the label. "To be honest I didn't know whether or not people would get into it and thought that it would perhaps only appeal to a small proportion of the scene," says Mark, "but it seems to have captured a lot of peoples imagination."
"I'm thrilled about it all," adds Sian. "The support we'd have from Fabio, Grooverider and subsequently Radio 1 has been really fantastic. I think people have hooked up with it as its not too complicated - its not trying to be a verse/chorus thing its just something you can sing along to!"
Kosheen's debut longplayer, expected to be released later this summer, contains all of the previously released singles in addition to some downtempo material. As Sian explains, "We've been really prolific over the last year and had realised quite early on that we had the potential to do an album. Whereas previously I was really doing vocals on top of things as a session singer, this project really allowed me the freedom to get my teeth into something. Working with Mark and Darren is really encouraging and as the relationship between ourselves got stronger and we grew more confident, so we're writing more material."
"Sian is what makes Kosheen different, " says Mark. "This isn't a short term project which we're going to forget about after this first album, it's something that we're committed to, and want to continue to build long term."