Glastonbury-born brotherly duo Speakman’s futuristic new sound sees its fullest expression yet on Infinity, their new EP out today, 19th April, on Music To Die For.  

The five-track ‘Infinity’ EP sees the duo crafting a collection of intricate, otherworldly grooves within layered, ethereal soundscapes. True to its title, there is an endless well of widescreen creativity on show here. Their influences and inspirations have come together to create a sound that is very nostalgic and thought-provoking. However, it also manages to feel firmly rooted in the future of the dance music scene creating something truly captivating. This blend promises to define a whole new soundscape and sonic palette to contribute to the electronic dance music space.
The collection brings the classic UK dance sound of the Free Party movement; a big influence on the duo’s Somerset upbringing to a modern audience.

“We wanted to explore the dance music of our shared childhood growing up immersed in UK festivals and Free Rave culture, while firmly focused on the sounds that move us today; to have a sense of nostalgia in its futurism, to both be deeply rooted in UK dance music culture whilst simultaneously transporting our audience to other worlds.”

Speakman

The EP includes the 2024 singles ‘Infinity’, ‘Lose Our Way’, and last year’s acclaimed ‘IG.LU’.  They have received growing support from major scene influencers such as Keinemusik, John Digweed, Lane 8, George Fitzgerald among many more.

‘Infinity’ is the lead single and takes you on a journey incorporating syncopated breakbeats, dreamy trance melodies, UK bass heavy & future house sounds and layers it with a widescreen, ethereal dreamy vocals and soaring trance-inducing lead synth melodies to spine-tingling effect. ‘IG.LU’ is a cinematic breakbeat trip with ethereal, moving chords and deep synths and sounds that hit great critical acclaim and attracted industry wide support. Recent single ‘Lose Our Way’ adopts a heavier UK bass and future house aesthetic, channeling the post-rave electronic sounds of the Free Party movement and frames it in today’s scene. In signature Speakman style, it’s an epic cinematic journey through a world of shifting drum textures, built around syncopated beats and shuffling rhythms. Also included are ‘WILL’, full of distorted vocal samples and soaring synth melodies, and the moving, atmospheric EP closer ‘Young Heart’.

It’s a strong and welcome return for the duo after a hiatus since a fraught Covid period, first making their name with a series of singles and appearances at a number of UK festivals including a Glastonbury performance. The electronic music duo have been very selective with what they release, with only a handful of singles and remixes being officially released since first emerging just over five years ago.

Speakman’s music has amassed millions of listeners with strong streaming and radio success. 
Now they are back and better than ever with a fresh cinematic new post-rave sound, and ‘Infinity’ is an EP that fully fleshes out this new sonic vision and is set to take them to the next level.

We sat down for a Q&A with the duo, delving into their artistic identity and journey, the soundscape of their new EP and the ideal setting for enjoying their latest track.

What inspired the nostalgic yet futuristic sound identity of your new track ‘Infinity’?

I think this is just a natural place for our sound to sit. We are both into big soundscapes in music. We like drama in music, euphoria, reflectiveness, escapism, which all lend themselves to sci fi like sonics and scapes. 
We are both super fascinated and respectful of the art form of music making, learning about technologies and methods from the past. Our studio is full of analog gear that we constantly experiment with. This certainly creates sonics that fill you with nostalgia, whilst simultaneously being new and different to just a synth preset (which, by the way, we have no problems with using too). Weather its the crusty space sounds of the Roland Space Echo or the wobbly Prophet synth pads running through a cassette recorder etc.
However, we cant escape that we are making electronic dance music, this is fundamentally the music of the future, especially as thought of by all those in the past… it is inherently futuristic for it is a collaboration with machines.  

You’ve mentioned ‘Infinity’ as a 3am tune at a festival. Could you paint a picture of the ideal setting where this track comes to life?

This comment very much nods back to our childhood. We were raised in the underground culture. Our father was a guitar player, associated with acts such as Hawkwind, Gong, Pinkwind etc. From very young we would follow him around from muddy field to muddy field, from speaker stack to speaker stack. We would love seeing acts like Eat Static and Ozric Tentacles and stay up way past our bedtime (what 8/9/10 year old can sleep with all that excitement going on?!) As we hit our teenage years it was only natural for us to find our own version of what we grew up around, and Somerset was still hugely rich in sound system and rave culture in the early 2000s. it was the time of drum and bass and dubstep and we were both fascinated in the music and the surrounding youth culture. 
As we have both grown and explored many other avenues of music and life our music has many other influences in it too, but we certainly feel it is suited to the late late night explorer, the foggy tent, the large sound system, the dewy grass, the ecstatic and euphoric exploration of culture. 

Can you describe the musical journey of your new EP as a whole?

For us as the creators it definitely marks a direction of confidence. We like it, we will keep making and developing music with this sound, we are honoured if anyone finds any thing of value in it and welcome anyone to join us on the ride.
Technically we are using less vocal features and more vocal sampling, there is a clear influence from drum and bass, dub step and break beat in the drums, heavy basses and tempos… We will always cross over a little, not easily sitting in one dance music box, such as the club world, but that’s just what happens natural to us and we make no apologies for it as we can’t really help it… 

How has your musical style evolved since your earlier releases? Has the time of your hiatus influenced your approach to music-making?

Hugely so, we have less pressure now that we have both built other strands of our careers. The time away and the subsequent coming back together has just allowed us to enjoy making music, to try and find that sweet spot of shared interest and some of that magic from our childhood. More enjoyment and more confidence allows us to be more free and to just enjoy making music. 

As brothers and a production duo, how do you guys collaborate when creating music? What does your creative process look like?

We are so so so different, you would sometimes wonder how we are related… 

Guy is extremely technical, has a huge eye for detail and a perfectionist of the minutiae 
Todd is a big picture thinker, an improviser and a curator of process 
Guy is an engineer and a mixer 
Todd is a drummer and composer 

These differences do compliment one another but we have learnt over time how the other weaknesses can maybe shed more interesting perspectives on our own strengths, for example Guy working on chords and Todd deciding on a certain sonic would fall out of their natural durestrictions but allowing for that experiment to provide new and interesting results. 

What is there to come from you soon, both with the release of the new EP and beyond?

We have a whole bunch of new music either towards the finish line or approaching it. We will be releasing music all throughout the year. There may be a few live shows and DJ appearances throughout the summer, but our aim is to stay consistent with releasing good music throughout 2024, build the project back up from the ground and hit 2025 with more releases and more live appearances across the festivals and clubs!