Despite constantly exploring different genres and executing these at an elite level, there’s no denying that drum and bass is Posij‘s bread and butter. Fresh off the release of ‘Blood‘ via MAD ZOO, the Groningen-based creative returns to the forward-thinking imprint today with three new tunes that fall under the broad umbrella of the genre, and the Blood EP sees Posij push his creative boundaries to new limits.
Listeners are probably aware that the title track is a mechanical brute tailored for the darkest hours of the night, but that isn’t the only soundscape present in the project. ‘Edge Of Disaster’ is similar in sound but boasts an oddly satisfying bounce to it, with guttural sound design and meticulous percussion coming together to form another monster of a tune. ‘Purple Foliage’ comes next, and truly exemplifies the last sentence of the first paragraph of this article. The musicality in the track is ethereal, with shimmering synths and angelically processed vocals from Posij himself paving the way for what is a soul-stirring five minutes. Finally, ‘Superlative’ closes out the project with as much energy as the opening, giving listeners a sense of urgency in whatever it is they’re doing.
All in all, the Blood EP is Posij at his finest, and we were lucky enough to connect with the Dutch talent to talk about the collection, as well as a handful of other topics. Don’t miss the Blood EP and interview below.
Welcome, Posij! Let’s kick things off with the obvious – we really love the new project. Tell us a bit more about the Blood EP. How long has it been in the works? What’s your favourite track from the bunch? Why?
‘Blood’ actually started in 2014 and just sorta laid dormant for all those years, until I picked it up to send out as a demo, Mad Zoo selected the four songs that are on this EP from a selection of about nine tunes. It was hard to find the right snare for ‘Blood’ so I tried around five snares until I found the right one. After that the 2nd and 3rd part just came flying out. The intro already had these jungle birds sounds in the intro, and I did not want to go with a drumroll again so I tried to sound design a conversation between two robots and a soldier that get attacked by a creature, that creature morphs into different bass sounds and travels from ground to air and back.
‘Edge Of Disaster’ is also a really old demo, it sounds nothing like the first demo, on the last few days before the deadline I reworked the entire song with freshly made bass sounds and tried to push the mixdown as hard as I could without pumping up the mid-high and highs, so I chose the hard way and tried to get that air pressure in it :D
‘Superlative’ is me trying to create jump-up with a silly sound, but trying to make it sound legit. It’s purposely repetitive and I am in love with the break to the second 16bars after the drop.
‘Purple Foliage’ is probably my favorite, it started out really over the top and melodic and I pushed it all back to the basics to make a more liquid-y type thing. I can usually play any melody I have in my head and translate it into midi, but somehow one day I just could not get my fingers right on the keyboard, so I decided to record myself singing the melody, which turned into the vocals you can hear today.
Why do you think MAD ZOO is the right place for you to showcase this work?
Because Mat Zo is an awesome producer and I wanted to be on his label! As an added bonus it’s awesome to have my music released on a US-based label, this is my first full solo release on an American imprint.
How did these four tracks come together? Was there a concept laid out for the project from the beginning, or did you randomly select these four individual songs for the collection? If there was a concept or an idea behind the Blood EP, can you elaborate on it?
‘Blood’ had a very clear concept – robots in a jungle – and ‘Edge Of Disaster’ puts emphasis on the danger of their situation, ‘Purple Foliage’ is the heavenly type place they eventually end up in, and ‘Superlative’ is the monster from ‘Blood’ celebrating its victory. BUT, I just came up with this on the spot, so no, there was no concept. I just wanted to make good drum & bass music.
You’re no stranger to collaborations, but this project is entirely solo. Was this intentional? How does your workflow differ when working alone compared to when working with another artist?
If you work alone, you have to discuss with yourself which parts you can delete, and where some drastic changes should happen. This can be difficult at times because you can get married to your latest version, and forget there’s a lot of opportunities left untouched. Once I get the feeling I’ve taken 100% out of the tune, I am ready to finalize the arrangement and feel done. That process can be easier when collaborating because there are two brains thinking of ideas instead of one.
Your recent tracks have been quite versatile in terms of genres and styles. Have you been experimenting more as of late? How did you incorporate some of this experimentation in the Blood EP?
Yeah true. I have been trying to get my electro/breaks/house sound out there as well, as I love the genres. I started my own label named OKAY to release some of my more quirky ones, and I will be releasing more in the near future. ‘Purple Foliage’ is more experimental for me because the vibe is more friendly and pretty – compared to the others – so instead of going hard on sound design, actually going hard on songwriting and melody is experimentation for me.
In 2017, you mentioned you “cold-turkey stopped playing video games” and that really helped with your productivity. Is that still the case, or have you found a balance between games and music?
I actually picked up Magic The Gathering: Arena during the pandemic, but nothing close to how much I used to play Quake 3, Battlefield and StarCraft. I actually got into the Mythic rank on MTG: Arena this year, I was very proud of that haha. I also still play Magic in real life with friends too. It’s a lovely game!
What else do you enjoy in your free time? What kept you sane through most of the pandemic?
I started bouldering with some friends, that really got me excited to do sports again. During this pandemic I also started pushing myself to get music finished and get releases out there, so I really just focused on my music more with all this extra time. That’s also why you could see releases such as the Sun Tracker EP with Former, ‘Fifteen Minutes’ with Tzar, ‘Pink Desperado’ with Andy Smart and my label OKAY come to fruition.
Imagine a world free of travel restrictions. Where is your first destination, why are you heading there, and what are you doing first?
I would go check out our nearest stars for their planets in goldilocks zones that have CO2 gasses in their atmosphere to check if there is life and possibly get some samples. Everything would change!
Let’s hope that’s not too far in the future :)
