The Verge of Sanity – the remarkable new EP from hotly-tipped Danish producer, electronic live act and label head Nandu – is out now via his burgeoning young imprint, Out Of Options. Featuring three brand new original cuts spanning some of the very finest avant-garde interpretations of minimal house, melodic techno and stripped back electronica, The Verge Of Sanity is another veritable masterclass in intelligent, cutting edge electronic music from the in-form, Copenhagen-based producer, who returns to Out of Options armed with a slew of impressive career releases on the likes of Innervisions, Afterlife, TAU, Exit Strategy, Azzur, Rebirth and MoBlack, to name just a few. We had the chance to catch up with the man himself to talk about his musical background, his creative process and plans for the rest of the year.
Hello Nandu and thanks for your time. Your musical background is really important for me to mention to our readers. What was the music scene like where you grew up?
I grew up in a little town far from Copenhagen. So there, the music was not very diverse. In my home my mother, who is an old hippie, listened to a lot of older, more commercial stuff like Paul Simon, Stones, Beatles, Donovan etc (I grew up in the 90’s, that’s why I call it old). My father mostly listened to Danish music like TV2, Gnags and other pop acts.
At 8 I started playing the trumpet, and joined in a Brass Band. This was where did my first performances, but I never realy loved it actually. First time I heard electronic music was actually when my grandmother played Oxygene for me. To me that was a magical moment.
How would you describe your brand of electronic music?
To me it’s always hard to put words on music. But I like it to be organic and groovy. And with a lot of emotion.
You have a new EP release called ‘The Verge Of Sanity’. Can you tell us more about that please?
Yes, that is correct. It’s a 3-track EP which is out on my own label Out Of Options.
It consists of 3 very different tracks. The title-track “The Verge Of Sanity”, a very energetic house track with a freaky lead added on top.
Second “No One Knows” is a more experimental groove, and in the end comes the track “Silence” which I did with the Danish artist Emily Simbi.
The EP as a whole is my take on an EP that differs a bit from the more straight up dance-music I sometimes do.
How does your creative process start when producing?
It differs from track to track. Often with an idea of an arrangement and melody, but sometimes also with a kickdrum and then a jam from there. Earlier this year I did a masterclass for the good guys
over at 343 pro sessions. I would recommend cheking that out, if you find these things about producing and being creative interesting.
We really enjoyed your remix for Forma on their latest Hollow EP. How did that come about?
Sanny who owns the label asked me if I was up for doing it. And when I heard the original, I said yes.
There was so much emotion in the track, and I really had the feeling that I could do a ‘Early Morning Mix’ out of this – and I am very happy with the result. The ‘Early Morning Mix’ is a series of remixes I have been doing over the last years. It consists of very emotional remixes of tracks.
What does the term underground mean to you? Would you say you fit into that category?
I don’t care much about the underground as a term. For me the underground is a place and not a term. It’s a place where people do what they do for the love of music. The term ‘underground’ has become a salespoint, even in the most commercial part of the electronic music scene, and imo that is not very underground. I definitely came from the underground.
Tell us something about your label, Out Of Options, and what are the meaning behing the name.
The last year has been very difficult to navigate in as an independent artist. And even before covid, the whole electronic music scene, as many other scenes, was in many was driven by hypes. A way to gain success could be to adapt to these hypes. But for me it’s always been hard to do that. Then in the middle of covid I felt kind of trapped. I felt a bit out of options, which was indeed not the case, but I felt that way. So, I decided to create a label on my own, where I, whenever I had no idea where my music would fit, could just release it. And now we are here at the third release.
What are your plans for the rest of 2021?
Hopefully the world will continue into a better state. And if it does then the plan is to play some amazing gigs. And then to spend a lot of time in the studio to make some new music.
Nandu – The Verge of Sanity is out now via Out Of Options
