Next Wave #659: NVOY

Lush house textures with a fragrant pop feeling...

One of the more beneficial by-products of further education is having an enormous amount of free time. NVOY – James and Connor – crossed paths while studying at Oxford’s SAE Institute, and promptly put the free studio time to good use.

“We spent our whole time at uni, basically, spending every day in the studio just working on our own stuff. That's how NVOY started, pretty much,” explains James.

Connor adds: “That was it. That was the start of it. Before we even put up any music, before we showed our tracks to anyone, we spent like eight months, probably, in the studio solid – learning how to make decent music, essentially. It took a long time.”

Almost continually at work, NVOY refuse to place limitations on their sound – if the duo become entranced by an R&B beat, they might work on that, or equally push their sound in a more melancholic direction. “Basically, what I think NVOY is,” insists James, “it’s just the two of us working on tunes day in, day out. We're just in the studio all the time. That's what we do.”

Snapped up by Black Butter, it’s clear that the duo’s hard work has paid off. Lush, house-infused electronic music, their commitment to making actual songs – as opposed to edits, tracks, or DJ tools – has given them an accessible edge which has seen NVOY’s music intrude everywhere from Ibiza to Radio 1.

“It's all about striking a balance, I suppose,” explains James. “We could just go to techno nights and have a good time, but we really like a bit of melody and a bit of emotion, and almost song-like characteristics in our music – that's what we're really into.”

“In a way, our tracks, the songs, highlight the chords, the melodies and the way stuff is written, but they have been produced as house music, I suppose,” Connor muses. “So you can still shake your ass to it!”

NVOY have gradually moved from the studio to the club, becoming in-demand producers while still barely out of university. Allowing these experiences to shift and change the way they make music, the duo are clearly excited at the prospect of fans getting to grips with their material. “Having a calendar full of shows is a really nice feeling, man” enthuses James.

“When you play shows it kind of inspires us to make more music, and now the music we're making is what I feel is missing from our DJ sets. Which is really cool. Before, we produced some really cool stuff but now I feel we're starting to properly shape our sound and really delve into it. We're playing a lot of good shows, and finding out what we really, really need to play out and to make the people happy.”

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