The Mix 053: Mount Kimbie

Settling into our video interview, Mount Kimbie’s Kai Campos points his screen down to reveal piles of cables and music gear scattered across the floor of his new Dalston studio. “I’m just trying to make sense of everything and put it back together, but it’s so boring,” he complains. Last year, in the midst of a balmy London spring, Mount Kimbie returned with their first new album in seven years, and the fourth in their catalogue to date. Though in the in between founding members Kai Campos and Dom Maker released a split album labelled as 'MK 3.5', each contributing solo efforts to form a double album as a result of their geographical distance; Campos explored urban-inspired techno from London, while Maker served up textural beat-making from his then-base in LA.

For their fourth album proper, instead of dividing, Mount Kimbie multiplied, expanding out of their usual duo dynamic on record. ‘The Sunset Violent’ enlisted their former touring band members Andrea Balency-Béarn and Marc Pell in the production and live recording process — not an entirely huge change from their usual rehearsal practice, Kai notes, but one that would take a pivot from the post-dubstep sound that had taken them to the mainstream years before. Their most vocal record yet, leaning into styles spanning shoegaze, post-rock, and dream pop, ‘The Sunset Violent’ found quick acclaim as a new flagpoint in their sonic timeline.

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A year on, ‘The Sunset Violent’, or ‘TSV’ as it’s become known to the pair, is still a keen talking point for Mount Kimbie, an album that marked a shift in style and sound that they’re hoping to carry forward into new projects. The record now continues into new forms, with a string of remixes gradually landing in its wake from the likes of Astrid Sonne and DJ Python, and a new rework from Special Request due soon, said to encompass “all of his different styles that he’s known for in one track”. Each remix brings an individual take on different tracks from the revered 2024 album, while enlisting electronic-leaning artists in a nod to their previous works.

The London duo are now taking ‘The Sunset Violent’ into another territory with the release of their new football-themed jerseys, using its abbreviated nickname, ‘TSV’, as a fictional team name. “We took the idea to riff from a team in Holland, PSV Eindhoven,” Kai explains. “Their shirt is a classic”. By bringing a shared love of football into the fold, the new jerseys are a playful finale to ‘The Sunset Violent’ project.

We caught up with one half of Mount Kimbie, Kai Campos to chat about football, working as a quartet for the first time, and the potential for a new “experimental” album following up on ‘The Sunset Violent’. They also deliver a mix providing “a slight alternative to the YouTube football compilation watching experience”, themed around the '95'-'96 season and duly crammed with ‘90s dance music anthems. Check it out below.

I hear you’ve been working away in the studio. Can you give us any hints to what you’re working on?

Yeah, there's some Mount Kimbie songs that aren’t really for an album, we started writing them after we finished ‘The Sunset Violent’ and they don't really have a particular home. That stuff can just go on forever, so we set a deadline to get it done and have been trying to finish some tracks.

The last time you caught up with Mixmag was in 2022 when you appeared on the cover. You’ve since released your fourth album, ‘The Sunset Violent’, which was a new attempt at that post-rock sound which we hadn’t really heard from you before. What influenced that shift?

Me and Dom had done these separate records that were very non-collaborative, they were really COVID-y albums when I look back at them. We hadn't written much music together for ages, and we were just trying to find a way in. I think that over the years, mine and Dom's reference points have gotten further and further apart, which is inconvenient but also really interesting. When you're both listening to or are both influenced by different stuff, it's like finding what you're both into in different spaces – it’s more interesting, I guess. I'd been very focused on tinkering around in the studio and doing electronic-leaning things for about two years, so picking up the guitar was the complete opposite of that. There was much less time looking at screens, which I was really enjoying, and I also hadn't really played guitar much since we'd stopped touring, so it felt like a new thing that I didn't really know how to do very well. Then all the influence on the sound came from decades of really liking guitar music, it's mostly what I listened to growing up, up to a certain age anyway, so there's tons of band influences.

‘The Sunset Violent’ was also your first time working as a quartet. What was that experience like?

Yeah, Andrea and Mark toured with us for about seven years on and off before this record, their style and voices have just become part of the music. All the live versions of the tracks from the record were much better when they were involved in playing them. It didn't really feel like a big change from the way that we would work in rehearsal, but I think the main difference was just how vocal this album was because of Dom and Andrea. That's the most obvious and probably the biggest change, that element of collaboration. I think they both bring out something in each other, and they have very complementary types of voices. Dom makes Andrea sound better, and Andrea makes Dom sound better too, so it was really fun to work with that and a bit of a surprise to everyone.

I know you and Dom spent a lot of time apart previously, especially before the release of that record when you were both living in different cities. Has that changed at all since ‘TSV’ came out?

Dom actually moved back to London, so now I see him all the time! It’s great, he was involved in a completely different musical world over there. He learned so much and came back quite a different person creatively, I would say, and brought loads of that into what we do, which is great. It sounds very trite or cliche, but if it still felt the same as it did when we were making music 10 years ago, then I doubt we would be able to do much – it wouldn't be that interesting.

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You’re now rolling out a string of remixes from that record – DJ Python, Astrid Sonne, and a new one coming from Special Request. Can we expect a full-length remix album on the way?

I think there's a couple more coming, so it might be a long EP or a mini album. But the Special Request one is particularly nuts, it's quite a lot. It encompasses all of his different styles that he’s known for in one track.

How did you select the artists to work on that?

There's different areas that you can look at when you're thinking about remixes, you either go for the artists that have influenced you for a long time or that you're a really big fan of as a musician or a person, because they often have a lot of experience, or you go for the fun, younger artists who are much newer to the scene. Maybe it’s their first or second time working on a remix, and they can really give a new voice and feel to a track.

Can you tell us about your recent rework of DIIV’s ‘Everyone Out’? How did that come about?

Somebody sent a few tracks from the album that they were making and asked if we wanted to do a remix of it, and this one just had something about it. As a remixer, you're listening for elements within the recording that you think you could expand on or do something else with, and that was the most textually interesting one. It had this arpeggio guitar part, and you could straight away hear that it could be extracted, and that it could be put into a completely different context in a fun way.

Your new ‘TSV’ jerseys are coming out next week, where you’ve basically coined your own football team. I take it you’re both football fans?

Yeah, very much so! It's kind of up there with music for me. If I had to go with one for the rest of my life, music just about takes it, but football's pretty close!

You’ve said that they’re inspired by ‘this era of football’. How did the idea for these jerseys come about?

I met this guy outside of our show in Denver when we were touring in America, he'd emailed beforehand asking for guestlist because it was sold out. When we put him on the list, he was really grateful and said that he knew I was a football fan, and that he sold vintage football shirts, and asked if he could bring me a Denver team shirt, the Colorado Rapids. I was like, ‘sick, yeah, that's a great trade’. He turned up with this shirt and we were chatting outside, and he said that his friend runs a company called Full Kit Wankers where they make bespoke football shirts that are esentially riffs on classic shirts. It was one of those things where you're like, ‘oh cool, yeah, your friend does a thing’, but then I actually looked them up and they were really good, and we spoke to them about the idea that we had. There's a team in Holland, PSV Eindhoven, and their shirt is a classic. In the ‘90s, they had this fantastic player, the original Ronaldo – or ‘Fat Ronaldo’ as he's known. We took the idea to riff from that for the 'TSV' jerseys, and ran with it from there.

It has a ring to it, 'TSV'. Could it become a real team?

We actually used to have one! We started a 7-a-side team in South London when we used to live there. I was always pretty shit and unfit, but Dom was really good. As these teams often do, it kind of became its own entity. There were other people we knew who would come down to play, and the group morphed over time. Years and years later, when we’d long left South London, we bumped into someone who told us that the team was still going, it’s just no one that we know anymore – it’s been passed on over time.

Dare I ask who you both support? Any clashes in your football fandom?

I support Spurs! I’m basically equal parts Tottenham and Harringey fan at this point, they’re my two teams. Dom is one of those weird creatures who really likes football but doesn’t really support a team, which I think is very sus behaviour. I think he’s got a bit of a soft spot for Brighton, make of that what you will.

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You’re heading out on an Australia tour soon where you’re playing a lot of DJ sets as opposed to live shows. Are you looking forward to returning to that?

We’re doing three live shows with a full band and I’m playing some DJ sets, too. It’s been ages since we were over in Australia, it’s such a big undertaking getting over to that part of the world and making it work for everyone, the opportunity doesn’t come up very often. It’s nice to be able to play to those same 10 people who message us every year asking us to come to Australia!

I’ve noticed a lot of artists speaking about how hard it is to tour right now given hiking costs, visa issues, etc. Are you finding that you run into those same difficulties?

The live thing is really difficult. When you start adding people, especially more than two people, it becomes incredibly expensive. It doesn’t make sense financially, even when you’re selling out shows. At least not until you get to a certain size venue, and I’m not even talking about medium-sized venues, you have to sell out 3,000+ capacity spaces every single night, which we don’t really do. We can do that in major cities, but not elsewhere. It’s really difficult, and I don’t really know what the answer is, because I know how tickets can feel really expensive too. People are still going to shows and paying for those tickets, but it’s just the way the industry is right now. It feels like we’re encouraged to make more music as opposed to going out and performing it at the moment.

What’s next for you both?

I’m just moving into this massive space, it’s the biggest studio I’ve ever had. We plan to make a lot of music this year, because every time we make an album, we say: ‘Let’s not leave it so long next time’. But each time we do that, the gap gets longer. I think we’re going in the right direction though, because last time it was seven years between albums, so if we can get that down a bit, that’d be great! I think we’ll finish quite a lot of music this year, maybe even an album.

Will that album head in a similar direction to your last?

I dunno yet, probably not. I think we’ll pick up where we left off, but I feel like I really had an image in my head of what we wanted that album to be, and not to brag, but I think we absolutely nailed that vision. We managed to fill it out in the way that we thought we could, so at that point, you really need something to be excited about when coming back into that world. I’m ready to do something slightly less influenced by straight pop music now. ‘The Sunset Violent’ was more about concise pop writing in a way that was really fun, but I think we’ll try and do something that’s a bit more of a studio record, a bit more experimental.

Can you tell us about your mix?

The idea I had for this mix came from those football compilations on YouTube with really shit music, that great but trash dance music. It’s part of the experience of watching football on YouTube, it’s a very particular sound of dance music. I wanted to go back to ‘95 or ‘96 when this original PSV jersey was released, and only play tracks from then. I basically want to provide a slight alternative to the YouTube football watching experience.

The TSV Jersey is available to pre-order now. Grab yours here

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter

Tracklist:
Glenn Underground - Colouration
The Untouchables - I’m For Real
24 Hour Experience - Jus’ A Vibe
Gemini - Funkey Dancer
D.C Sensation - Let’s Get it On
Jack & Jill - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Fierce) (Masters at Work Mix)
Keynotes - Let’s Dance
Angel Moraes - Time To Get Down (Time To Get Dub Mix)
Scotti Deep - Brooklyn Beats
Jeff Mills - Solid Sleep
Tone Theory - Loop Limbo
Da Vibe Project - Live From The Underground
Ricky Suarez - Deep Vibes
Holis P Monroe - I’m Lonely
Designer Music - Good Girls
Blake Baxter - Energizer
Paul jacobs - Feeling Groovey
Memory Tree - Dual
DJ Honesty - Magic Carpet
Governed By Rhythm - Laughing Mirrors
N-Trance - Set You Free