Man Power to release acid-fuelled EP 'Wallsend's Finest'

Man Power has announced that his forthcoming EP, 'Wallsend's Finest', is set to be released on February 3 via Jordan Nocturne's Nocturne imprint.

The two-tracker sees the North East multi-hyphenate creative delivery a gnarly acid driver in the form of opener 'Overbite', with driving drumbeats and 303 sounds aplenty which combine with synths to craft a rave-ready cut.

'Full Body Gurn' follows, which shifts to a four-to-the-floor percussive groove prime for house and bassheads alike, especially when the hypnotic vocal elements and steadfast drops are introduced.

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"I made these tracks almost exactly a year ago during quarantining with Covid in the days before Christmas," the artist, aka Geoff Kirkwood, shares. "I have a habit of making things I like and then sitting on them without a clue what to do with them before impulsively deciding on a course of action that feels like it fits and rushing to get them out. That's what happened here. I had no plans with them for a year then I met Jordan and we hit it off and then this release just seemed like it made sense, so I sent him a text and within about 30 minutes it was all sewn up.

"The music is quite noisy and silly on the surface, but hopefully it reveals some hidden depth after a closer listen."

“Working with Geoff seemed like a natural fit really," labelhead Jordan continues. "The lens through which he views club culture is in line with my take on it, and we both share a DIY approach to our creative output. We enjoyed a vodka-fuelled b2b in France a few months back and this release is the culmination of that. It’s demonstrative the meeting other creatives in nightclubs continues to have cultural value.”

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Independent and driven in embracing all creative meanderings, 'Wallsend's Finest' marks the first release for Kirkwood following a year in which he took a step back from producing and creating electronic music, focusing instead on his Symphony project at the North East's iconic Sage Gateshead.

"I think I'd reached burnout before Covid, and then the time off meant I was very wary of coming back to things without doing so in a way that reflected the things I'd realised during the forced absence," he explains on the decision. "I finally feel ready to fully involve myself in this culture again, but I feel like I'm doing it in a more conscious way both with regards to my own mental wellbeing and with a restored sense of what I'm happy to subscribe to and which parts of this culture (or in this sense, industry) I don't want to have any part in.

"Whenever you take some time off you wonder what's going to be waiting for you when you come back. I have to say I've been incredibly fortunate and I already find myself playing some of the most exciting parties I've done over the last decade as Man Power, so it seems like the partial rest has only been a good thing. Above all else I've rediscovered my love for the things that got me in to this in the first place, and which don't seem to really have changed all too much in the last nearly 30 years."

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And even last year, Kirkwood was still throwing parties during his hiatus, with a standout being the sixth birthday celebration of his label Me Me Me where techno legend Jeff Mills travelled to lead the celebrations in Newcastle. Other party headliners of recent times have included DJ Harvey, Danielle Avery and Jennifer Cardini, whilst Kirkwood himself has appeared on bills at festivals including Houghton and Love International Croatia, and programmed two all-day and all-nighters at Pikes Ibiza.

You can pre-order Man Power's EP, 'Wallsend's Finest', now, set for release on February 3.

Niamh Ingram is Mixmag's Weekend Editor, follow her on Twitter