Here at Songeist we've all been huge fans of the Brighton-based Red Soul since hearing their spine-tingling debut track 'Dreams Are High'. The duo combine Mike's production, which leans heavily on soul samples and classic hip-hop beats, with Stephanie's gorgeous, honey-dipped jazz-pop vocals and it's a potent mix. This week, Red Soul have dropped their full five-track EP, which you can grab on Songeist now, so it's a great time for Barney to catch up with Mike and Stephanie to get us up to speed with the story so far and learn a little more about the alchemy of their winning formula.
Red Red Soul. Mike and Stephanie.B. Hello Mike! Sorry to start with the obvious question but you guys are fresh as they come so we'd love to get a bit of background. Can you give us a brief history of Red Soul? How did you guys meet?
M. Hey man, yeah sure, Steph and I met in the Summer of 2012 when we both worked at a restaurant in Brighton. I came down from London to spend my summer holiday there and my brother gave me a job at the restaurant he was managing at the time. Steph worked there already and my brother told me she was a sick singer. We became friends but it wasn’t until I was back at uni working on a jazz project that we thought to work together. Steph vocal’d the track for me and it was then that we started to think about putting together a project of our own as we liked each other's styles. Over the next few months we started sending each other demos and ideas for the EP started coming together.
B. Hi Steph. Your debut, the Red Soul EP, has just dropped. People who want to grab it can head to your Songeist profile right now. Is it part of your plan to produce an EP to get the word about Red Soul out and build popularity before dropping an album or is it simply a case of getting what you've recorded up to now out there and lets-see-what-happens?
S. We actually didn't really know when we set out where we would end up in terms of an EP or album but we've just started writing some new stuff we're really excited about! We are working on writing and recording an album because we may as well now we've had so much fun getting here already! Plus the feedback we've had has been really encouraging.
B. I described 'Untrue' as "a sound that bridges the gap between Dilla’s Philly hip-hop and contemporary post-Winehouse pop". Was it your intention to mix underground hip-hop with a radio-ready vocal or is this a happy accident? Do you see yourselves as a hip-hop act or a pop act?
S. I think it was sort of a happy accident! Traditionally I am quite a commercial singer and I take massive influence in my writing and vocal style from artists like Amy Winehouse, where as Mike has always been far more underground in terms of what he creates musically, probably a reflection on what he listens to as well! I think its cool we've both stayed quite true to what we love but mixed it into something a bit different. I think our style will keep evolving too.
B. The EP's production is heavily sample-based, and even makes reference to this in the introduction 'Is It Art?'. The sped-up soul samples on 'You're My Hope' recall classic Kanye and Just Blaze, while there's a heavy J Dilla and DJ Premier vibe to the whole EP. Are the production techniques of golden age hip-hop something you prefer over the synths and sampled beats of contemporary trap and chart hip-hop and can you express why?
M. I think there is certainly a place for more synth-heavy production in hip-hop as well as other genres, but I love everything about sampling. The idea of finding a piece of music that most people have forgotten about and paying respect to it by breathing new life into it is really appealing to me. I love capturing the real emotion in the instruments of the original tracks and trying to bring that to my beats; most of the samples I used for the EP are from some of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard.
A classic Akai MPC sampler and Brighton beach; both Red Soul essentials.B. As well as your guise as Red Soul, a hip-hop duo consisting of you and Stephanie, there's also the Soul Purpose crew. Can you outline the differences and specifics of these different identities? Do you have to wear a different 'hat' in your participation in either party?
M. Soul Purpose is what we call our collective of musicians and visual artists. It’s a pretty tight-knit crew of people who just respect each other’s music and want to push ourselves to make better and better material. We all help each other out with videos, music and mixes as much as possible and different combinations of us make up different artist guises. We’re putting together a Soul Purpose mixtape at the moment and have been working on a few nice videos for that so expect to see those dropping in the coming weeks. In terms of working with the other guys, for me, it’s not a hard adjustment to make as I love making more traditional rap-based hip-hop too. I started out making beats for rappers, so its always fun to get back to that. I think Steph enjoys working on some different styles too.
B. Both the videos for 'Untrue' and 'Dreams Are High' feature a great deal of footage of the beach, streets and haunts of your native Brighton. Do you feel that your Brighton location is a strong part of your identity as an act?
S. I think because it's where we met it will always be relevant to us, and the writing of most of the tracks was over summer when Mike was spending lots of time in Brighton. I feel like the people and the place really influenced what I wrote about lyrically. We are both living in London now so maybe that will evoke a change in stuff but I spent three years studying music in Brighton and meeting amazing people and that's really shaped me as an artist.
B. How do you guys write? Is it literally a case of Mike producing the beats and Stephanie writing over that? Or do you work on the beats and vocals together?
S. Mostly Mike will send me a beat he's been working on and I'll play it a couple of times and record demos of anything hooky I come up with vocally and send it over to him. If he likes it I work on lyrics, decide what I feel inspired to write about, figure out where the track should go and listen to the sounds I want to take influence from a lot for a week or two while I write. We almost always scrap stuff and rewrite in the studio and wrote 'Is This Art?' in Mike's house in London over a bottle of wine, suddenly panicking that we had to record it the next day so it definitely varies a little bit.
B. Just to return to the blend of pop and hip-hop that Red Soul purvey, I'm wondering about how this affects your plot in building your act? Most hip-hop acts will grow their following through underground club nights and culture. Many pop acts will create demos and look for management before doing live shows. Are you approaching the act as part of an underground scene or simply pushing the music to anyone and everyone who will listen?
M. As we started out just doing the music cos we loved it, we hadn’t really thought too much about releasing and promotion strategies whilst we were working on the EP. At the moment we’re working on getting a live show together and are talking to a few people about the next steps in terms of getting our name out there. Most of our views and likes have just been down to word of mouth and people showing us love by spreading our music which we really appreciate!
B. You're giving the EP away for free. What is the reasoning behind this? Do you think the way that the internet has affected our consumption of, and economic relationship with, music over the last 15 years is a good thing for an emerging act like Red Soul? And can we expect any Red Soul on vinyl? Because it would sure sound good!
S. I definitely think that the way we have to approach the industry now is entirely different to what it would have been 15 years ago! The thing is, rightly or wrongly, a lot of people simply aren't prepared to pay for downloads any more by artists they love, so we certainly didn't expect them to spend money on our music cause people don't really know it yet. We do make reference in our music to samples and the idea of art vs stealing. It's an interesting debate. We just want our music to be enjoyed and listened to by as many people as possible! We have also discussed pressing to vinyl and its something we'd absolutely love to do in the future!
B. Finally, let us know what you guys have got coming up and how we can follow you guys!
M. Cool man, we are working on a couple of tracks at the moment which we are really excited about finishing. We’re planning on dropping them as soon as they're ready, hopefully this summer, whilst starting to gig and working on our album. Follow and like us on all the usual social media sites as well as our new website.
Visit Red Soul Music HERE.
Follow Red Soul on Facebook HERE.
Follow Red Soul on Twitter HERE.
You can listen and download the Red Soul EP by Red Soul on Songeist HERE.
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