March 7, 2025 |
London-based DJs and producers Jo Danvers-Mccabe and Warren Cummings – the musical masterminds of Kassian – are the dynamic duo serving up beats destined for the dancefloor. Having just released their new single, Sunset Park, they’re now gearing up for the release of their highly anticipated debut album, Channels, which is set to land March 21.
With production backgrounds rooted in groove-laden house, left-field techno, UK bass, electro, amapiano and baile funk, Channels fuses warm, sample-driven sounds with the house-inspired sonics that first brought Danvers-Mccabe and Cummings together. A nostalgic journey packed with tender moments that Kassian believes will reveal a “different side” of Kassian, the album serves as a soundtrack to life’s highs, lows and the moments in between. It’s a bare-faced reminder that you don’t need to be in the club to enjoy club music.
Since 2019, the DJ duo have steadily fortified their presence in the global music scene, with releases on renowned labels like Heist, Phonica White, Shall Not Fade, Unknown To The Unknown, and !K7 Records. They even launched their own label, Faux Poly, back in 2022. Amongst this impressive catalogue, Kassian’s Rinse FM residency has also accounted for nearly 50 shows with more already in the calendar.
Channels marks a new chapter, with collaborations featuring musicians from their inner circle, including Ezra Collective members Joe Armon-Jones on keys and Timothy Kraemer on cello, bringing fresh sonic textures to their signature style. With a few surprises promised, it’s the perfect soundtrack to elevate your mood whether you’re bored at work or alone at the beach.
Here, we catch up with Kassian to dive into everything from the inspiration behind the upcoming album to working as a pair and collaborating with other high-flying musicians.
1. Your third single from your upcoming album was just released – why did you decide to drop this single early?
Sunset Park is one of the last tracks that we added to the album. It went through a lot of changes starting as a stripped-down hardware demo with a singular synth line, that eventually turned into this full garage leaning production. We felt like it captured a new energy and probably serves as the biggest bridge between the sound of our DJ sets and the direction of the full album. It’s one of our favourites and think it deserves to stand out on its own before the whole album drops.
2. What do you want listeners to feel when they hear ‘Sunset Park’?
Like a lot of the album we want it to create a sense of nostalgia and familiarity – like they’re looking back on a memory but also feeling hopeful about what’s ahead. It’s bittersweet but uplifting and can be slightly dark with hidden key changes and a few little surprises.
3. What can listeners expect from your debut album Channels on March 21st?
A journey for sure. Some of the tracks are introspective, others are pure energy and a couple are what feels to us like extended interludes. It’s been a really unique process of creating this record for us – completely opposite to how we work on club music in our studio now but we think people will hear that and maybe experience a different side of us. We love building quite detailed textures in our compositions so we really pushed that for these tracks, we wanted it to feel organic and real even though a lot of the sounds are digital.
4. What was the inspiration behind Channels?
Life, really. The highs, the lows, the moments in between. We wanted to create something that felt authentic and for all occasions without the focus being on the processes needed for club music. A lot of the tracks came from personal experiences during isolation, dealing with covid life, lockdown and what that meant for us as artists, loss of family members and conversations we’ve had with each other about some of our early inspirations going into Kassian. We started the album sketches in 2020 during peak lockdown, passing the project files back and forth remotely.
5. What’s your favourite thing about working together?
Warren: Great energy and balance I think. We both have the ability to take an idea and run with it in unexpected directions so together there is a raw energy that always keeps things fresh and exciting,
Joe: Yeah I feel like we act as each other’s muse half the time. We trust each other’s ears completely, and we’re able to validate each other while we’re working which is great for getting rid of any potential self doubt.
6. How does the city of London influence your sound?
London’s diversity is a huge influence. You can hear it in the way we blend genres. We experiment with House, Techno, UK bass, and global sounds like Amapiano and Baile Funk. The city’s energy and pace are always in the background, pushing us to experiment and evolve. When we tour around we can feel the appreciation people have for London’s mix of sounds which makes us appreciate it even more.
7. What’s one venue you would love to play but haven’t yet?
Not much will ever top Panorama Bar, but there’s a lot of spots still on our bucket list; Sub Club in Glasgow, Room 1 at Fabric, Movement festival in Detroit.
8. One Rinse FM show everyone should listen to (apart from your own)?
The Hessle show would be our immediate answer, but you also can’t go wrong with Jossy Mitsu!
9. You’re working with other musicians on this album for the first time – what made you want to open this project up to more collaboration?
We’ve been making club music together for years. For the album we wanted it to feel more organic and more human, it’s definitely produced to listen at home. We’ve know Joe Armon-Jones for a long time now, he actually features on the first record that we appeared on together (as solo artists before Kassian), so we thought it just made sense to come full circle and work with him again. As for the cellist Timothy Kraemer, he’s Joe’s next door neighbour, an ex-professional player and now a retired cello teacher. Both Joe and Timothy had only heard the tracks once or twice before we recorded them, we wanted to capture an improvisational sound to loosen up the record even more, as often electronic compositions can sound a little static. This is something we always push for in all our music.
10. What’s coming up for you guys post-album release that you’re excited about?
We’ve got a few UK shows coming up – our own label party at The Waiting Room in Dalston on March 22, Queens Yard Summer Party in Hackney Wick, and Coalesce Festival in Wales. We’re also playing all night long at Paloma in Berlin in May which we can’t wait for, it’s an excellent club. We’re also working on some new club music for our label Faux Poly.
Photography courtesy of Kassian.
