Championed heavily by Gilles Peterson, lovetempo’s modern soul classic ‘But I Do’ gets a vinyl release with a trio of remixes. Crackazat delivers in his signature style, weaving the organic elements and earworm vocals of the original into a deep and jazzy mix. Londoner Daisybelle bumps the BPMs up a few notches and adds pulsing synths to her take, and Brazilian duo From House To Disco turn in a dubby club remix to round out the record.

Fresh off the EP release last week, we just had to chat with lovetempo about the EP, his ideal creative space, what’s coming up next, and of course, much more!

WWD: Where does the impulse to create come from in you? 

Inspiration is such a mysterious thing! Melodies and ideas pop into my brain while I’m doing mundane daily tasks, walking in nature, or sometimes in my dreams. The important thing is to remember them, especially if I am not actively sitting at an instrument. My phone is filled with hundreds of voice notes, me singing little vocal ideas, or bass lines, or chord changes in a quiet little voice so that I don’t forget.

WWD: What roles do stuff like art, relationships, and the current state of the world play for you in the ideas process? 

It’s rare that I sit down with an intention to take direct inspiration from a work of art or music, or to write specifically about a relationship or things that are happening in the world. But I certainly take in a lot of those things in my daily living, and I think a lot of the writing process for me is trying to understand how I feel about those things as my brain processes them. A lot of times my lyrics serve as a way of understanding what the next steps I need to take in life are. 

WWD: For you to get started, does there need to be concrete ideas for you to make a track? 

Not at all! Sometimes there’s a sliver of an idea, but sometimes I just sit down in the studio with an instrument in my hand and play around until I hear something that I like.

WWD: What is the balance between planning and improvisation for you? 

I don’t think that I would consider planning to be a part of the creative process for me, other than making the time to sit down and work on something. But once I’m sitting there, it’s all improvisation.

WWD: Is there a preparation phase for your process? 

Daily living—keeping my ears and eyes open to new experiences and ideas.

WWD: For your latest release, what did you start with? Were there conceptual considerations, what were they? 

I knew that I wanted to make something that was a little more up-tempo and specifically designed for the dance floor, and I knew that I wanted to program the bass line on the 303 rather than play it on my bass guitar. I had a chord progression that had been stuck in my head, but for a long time I had no vocal idea. 

WWD: Tell us a bit about the way ‘But I Do’ developed and gradually took its final form. 

I originally thought it was going to be a collaboration with another vocalist, so I had the basic bass/keys/drums for a while, but the collaborations weren’t quite working, and I developed the basic vocal idea. The drums weren’t quite feeling right, so I asked my friend Toribio to help me, and we did a session at his studio, that really helped get it feeling good. Then I spent a couple of days in Los Angeles really fleshing out the production with my friend Dougie Stu, who I know through Brijean. Doug is an incredible musician and the synths, loops and weird little sounds we added really helped make it a unique record.

WWD: Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later? 

Most of my records do end up lying around that way, but the first lovetempo release, ‘Turnaround,’ was completed very quickly in order to be included on Razor-N-Tape’s ‘Family Affair Vol. 2’ compilation, and that is also totally fine! 

WWD: How much tweaking do you allow until you’re satisfied with a track?  

I try not to dwell on things for too long, but I will keep tweaking until it feels right, whatever it takes. For some people they will tweak and tweak as a way to avoid finishing something, but that impulse hasn’t plagued me of late.

WWD: After finishing a track and putting it out there, there can often be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this at all? 

Ha, yes, of course! But I try to just keep making new things I’m excited about and not dwell on the success or failure of a release.

WWD: Do you find that feedback from others is important to you? Are there sometimes misunderstandings or does feedback from your peers help you to gain new insights? 

It can be valuable as long as you understand where someone’s perspective is coming from, and that just because someone else says something doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true. I’ll think about critiques, but if they don’t resonate with me then I have no problem chucking them in the bin.

WWD: What was most important for you to convey through this track? Do you feel you have achieved it? 

With everything I make the most important thing is to convey the emotion. I feel like that comes through in this one.

WWD: Who are the artists and icons that inspire the music you make?

Without getting into song specifics, some of my favorite and most inspirational artists and musicians, new and classic, are Donald Byrd, Stevie Wonder, Roy Ayers, Minnie Riperton, Patrice Rushen, Hugh Masekela, Novos Baianos, Adi Oasis, Cajmere, BADBADNOTGOOD, Lianne La Havas, Madison McFerrin, The Internet, Jitwam, Mr Fingers, Bosq, 808 State, Pépé Bradock, Metro Area, DJ T, Kerri Chandler, The Basement Boys, Brijean, Freaks, Crackazat… I could go on for a long time!

WWD: What is the perfect setting for you to create new music? 

I’ve been working with a friend in Kauai (Hawaii), surrounded by trees and birds, that’s been pretty idyllic!

WWD: Where do you find the most inspiration when it comes to discovering new sounds? 

If you’re gonna make club music I think you need to be getting out to the club pretty regularly! The music that moves me in that setting inspires me in the studio. 

WWD: Who do you think is making great music right now? 

I love everything J Kriv has been releasing recently. I love Clive From Accounts’ new album. Jimpster’s recent EP on Nu Groove is awesome. The Close Counters album is beautiful. Megatronic’s records have been hitting my soul. I like Medlar.

WWD: What has been one of your favourite moments from the past year? 

Meeting and getting to hang with Gilles Peterson in New York was amazing! I got to shake Marshall Allen’s hand that same weekend, which was the closest I’ve come to meeting god.

WWD: What’s coming up next for lovetempo? 

I did a guest vocal for an artist from the UK called Sasha Gigi coming in May on Good Company. And I did a special extended mix for ‘Too Slow To Disco’ of the cover of ‘Same Ole Love’ that Prince Terrence and I released a couple years back. Besides that, a couple more remixes, some parties, and some more originals coming before the end of the year.

WWD: Sounds amazing! Thanks for the chat 🙂

The ‘But I Do’ EP is available here