Your grandparents going on a transatlantic voyage isn’t obvious material for expansive electronic albums – the future, space, wild parties at the end of the world, maybe – but Leon Vynehall has quietly built a reputation for defying the obvious. Over the past five years, the Kent-born DJ/producer has become known for his low-key style of house, all grainy analogue grooves and muted soul. But for his debut record, Nothing Is Still, he found inspiration in a more personal place.
When his beloved “Pops” died, his nan revealed that she and her husband had once boarded a boat to Brooklyn “in search of the American dream”. And so Vynehall builds on the sunlit electronica gilding his previous two EPs to evoke that gleaming optimism. Serene strings glide like a hull dividing the ocean, lithe jazz-house and thrums of cello suggest Arthur Russell at a Croatian boat party, and occasionally it breaks into the kind of tenebrous techno of which Jon Hopkins would be proud (in fact, Vynehall is joining him on an forthcoming US tour).
Vynehall is newly signed to Ninja Tune, and like label-mates Gold Panda and Bonobo, he makes intricate samples groovesome. Unlike them, however, he has also co-written a novella based on his grandparents’ story to accompany his new music – each track has a “chapter”. As he says: “I think concepts within albums can be quite loose sometimes. If people were going to [create narrative in music], it would be great for them to go in deep with it.”
Nothing Is Still is released on Ninja Tune on 15 June
