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BEST TUNE: PAUL WOOLFORD 'UNTITLED'

Woolford's glorious return to house music is an instant classic...

PAUL WOOLFORD 'UNTITLED'

“Intense and inspiring” is how Paul Woolford sums up 2013, although ‘inspired’ may be just as apt. From the quirky, funk-heavy bass and offbeat drums to the piano stabs and simple vocal refrain that guarantee goosebumps, Paul’s ‘Untitled’ isn’t your average house track.

Perhaps releasing an instant classic shouldn’t have been a surprise coming from one of dance music’s most versatile and enduring figures. Indeed, he also produced one of the albums of the year, ‘Soul Music’, under his jungle-driven Special Request moniker.

“It's completely changed pace,” Paul says of 2013. “I was in a good position previously but from July onwards things started to speed up. The diary went nuts again but I kept the focus in the studio after I finished the Special Request album and it's the extra work that has pushed things further.”

‘Untitled’ marked Paul’s return to house music after a brief hiatus, and what a return it turned out to be. “I hadn't made any house for about 18 months,” he explains. “It came together rapidly, just a few hours, as all the best ones do. I sent it to a small handful of friends and it was signed to Hotflush three days later. The best thing I could have done is have a break from making house music and then return to it properly when I had something to say. There's plenty more coming.”

He describes winning the Best Tune award as, “Humbling. I have to say a massive thank you to everyone that voted for me and to anyone that supported me at my gigs and with the releases”.

So aside from ‘Untitled’ and ‘Soul Music’ blowing up, what’s been Paul’s main highlight of the year? “Playing for Metalheadz was inspiring, all the stuff with Hotflush has been great, but probably the best one was a handmade cupcake being delivered to my gig in Heidelberg by a friend's mother. What a lovely gesture, it was delicious.”

The future for Paul Woolford gets brighter by the release it seems, but he’s remaining tightlipped about the future.

“I can't reveal too much about next year, but purely in a studio context, there's projects happening that would have been dreams previously.”