Sian gets back to his roots: “Remember why we got into this, or what’s the point?”

As Sian readies to release his second album ‘Capital Crimewave’ on April 10, the Octopus Recordings label boss sat down with Mixmag to discuss the vision behind the new material, his thoughts on the dance music industry and to share a free download of the album’s bonus track.

Following the release of his debut album in 2002, Sian has released numerous dance floor focused tracks over the course of his career, but has not returned to the album format. The new material is a departure from what many listeners have grown accustomed to and offers a new look at his unique approach to production.

As the new material stands out from the label’s catalogue, Sian revealed that he hopes to reach new fans and give existing ones a new side to his persona: “That’s how I see it going already from promoting this music over the last few weeks. The kind of people that are coming to us are the kind of people who would maybe also listen to Bonobo or Modeselektor. Or just good music in general, not so specific.”

Listen and download the album’s bonus track, ‘Cardboard City’, and read our interview with the innovative producer below.

Purchase 'Capital Crimewave' here

So we just finished listening to your new album ‘Capital Crimewave’ and it’s a diverse collection of music from you. Was there a distinct message you were trying to convey with the material? Do you feel like it’s the culmination of who you are as an artist?

Yeah, I’ve always been into the more leftfield stuff as an artist. I started making more dubby electronica early on and then ended up playing bigger techno rooms and producing the more acid-focused, harder dance music. Then, being in LA, I crossed paths with a couple of really good hip-hop people. One of them is AG, who’s doing most of the vocals on the album. They’re working in a field with 808 drum machines and 909s, that's kind of analogous to techno in a way. His vocals almost slid into tracks I was working on, with slight adaptations. It flowed and wasn’t so contrived, I liked what he was doing and he liked what I was doing. These two worlds don’t normally meet, so it was great that the material came together naturally.

Your first album has a very down-tempo, trip-hop motif, which is brilliant for those that might not be aware. You haven’t released much of that style since. Do you feel like you couldn’t release material like that until you had an album format or else you might be throwing people off? Because with the album format you can just push the boundaries again.

For sure! Because I don’t know if that style belongs on a single. People expect singles on my label to be punchy acidy and big, raw techno stuff. If you throw a curve ball on a single, people get distracted, but if you do it on an album, it makes sense. It’s a listening experience.