EXCLUSIVE MIX: SHELTER POINT + Q&A

Shelter Point are a Nottingham based duo specializing in soulful, experimental, vocal based electronic music. Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, and Huw Stephens are already fans, and so are we!

The mix moves from experimental to some more contemporary techno vibes and the track selection is simply superb. Meditative yet full of energy, this mix is an expertly sculpted journey through the mind and we love it.

We managed to get some words from the guys themselves ahead of their gig at XOYO today - you can grab tickets for that here.

Q&A:
Hi guys, where did you meet and how long have you been making music together? 
Hi! We met in secondary school at about the age of 14, we didn't used to get along we we're in polar opposite friendship groups, I used to bully Robin (lightheartedly of course). We both made music at an early age, Robin made chip tune and I made acoustic love songs. I obviously knew everything there was to know about love and relationships at the age of 14... We started making music together after school between 6th form and uni.

People have compared you to acts such as James Blake & Mount Kimbie but your sound seems to have progressed since your first EP - how have things moved on since the first release?
When we first began writing it's was completely just for fun and at the time we were (and still are) really into James Blake and Mount Kimbie, it was the perfect middle ground that melded our musical tastes and they, along with artists like Radiohead and Flying Lotus, inspired us to start making electronic music.
Since Forever For Now was released in 2012 we've been up and down, trying out so many different styles and techniques with our writing, some days we will write really up tempo electronic tracks and other days we will both just sit at a piano and write something really ambient and soft. Our sound is forever blossoming, we'll always just make music, we're not into writing hits or chart toppers.

What is your writing process like?
The majority of the time we seem to wait for about 2 weeks before really getting our heads into a track, we're constantly writing melodies and nice progressions but usually every couple of weeks once we've stored up or musical juices, we really lock into something and work until 5-6am until we've exhausted ourselves!

Any exciting collaborations on the upcoming album?
It's still really early days in terms of the album, we're still perfecting our next EP which will be out in January. We are definitely up for some colabs though. Maybe Tom Jones...

We've just run our ever controversial Top 100 DJs poll, who are the best DJs you've ever seen?
Jon Hopkins at bestival a couple of years ago was just insane, this guy knows how to build up tension within a crowd. Incredible.

Any other acts we should be looking out for?
There's a local band that we're really into at the minute called Field Studies. They're live show is explosive and we're looking forward to hearing their next release, you should check them out!