After 4 long years, Josh and Matt, better known as Hybrid Minds have delivered a spectacular 15 track sophomore album.
The album was released on the 23rd of June on their very own Hybrid Music record label. The duo has released 3 singles off the album during 2016 which garnered millions of plays on various social media. With 3 years in the making, “Elements” has been described as the sequel to their debut album “Mountains”. We had the chance to chat with the guys about their album.
Azasia – Hi Matt and Josh. How are you guys and what have you been up to recently?
Hybrid Minds – All good here thanks, We have been swamped recently getting everything ready for our album to drop and following it up with some mixes and what not. Getting stuff ready for the festival season which we are looking forward to.
Azasia – It’s been a while since “Mountains”, we get to feast on a brand new Hybrid Minds album. Please tell us what sparked the inspiration to create “Elements”.
Hybrid Minds – Starting our own label really got us into the idea of doing a second album. We needed a break after the first but felt we were ready to get a body of work down to make a worthy sequel. We spent a lot of time trying to brush up on the technical side and get some fresh inspiration.
Azasia – We have read that this album has been in the making for about 3 years. A lot can happen in that period of time, how has your sound evolved through these specific years?
Hybrid Minds – We have concentrated on making everything sound bigger and wider musically as well as more dynamic and full. We have focused on giving the new stuff that bit more ambience to get our emotions across musically. We didn’t want to rehash everything but at the same time felt it was important to stay true to our sound and just evolve, that naturally takes time so that could be why the album has taken us so long to get to a stage that we are happy with.
Azasia – Is there a story behind the title of the album?
Hybrid Minds – There isn’t a story as such behind it however we wanted it to sound like an album. We worked hard on making it play start to finish as a journey. We tried to do that extra bit of work to allow the tracks to blend into each other rather than have a disjointed collection of tracks. I suppose the story is about ourselves and how we feel creatively.
Azasia – All of the tracks on the album are absolutely beautiful. Its not just for dancing, I can just chill or turn this up whilst I’m driving. What message or vibe do you hope audiences receive when they hear “Elements”?
Hybrid Minds – The main aim of the album was to make music rather than club bangers. We feel that is the difference between an album and a drum and bass ep as such. It serves a different purpose. We set out to create an album as a whole as opposed to individual tracks that would work on the dance floor.
Azasia – What are your favourite tracks from the album?
Hybrid Minds – Tough one, they have their own places to us but I think we really enjoy being able to break the mould and make lower tempo tracks. You only get the chance to make these kind of tracks when it comes to doing an album so would say they were the most enjoyable to make from a production perspective.
Azasia – What do you feel is the most important element while producing an album?
Hybrid Minds – The most important element when producing an album to us is to make an album. Don’t just throw a bunch of tracks together and call it an LP.
Azasia – What has been the reaction to the album from your fans so far?
Hybrid Minds – We were very nervous before the album dropped but it seems to have gone down very well with our following. We didn’t want it to be that awkward second album and the reaction has been that it is better than our first album so that’s great to hear.
Azasia – What are your plans for the summer?
Hybrid Minds – We are going to have some fun playing a bunch of festivals and enjoy playing the new tracks to people. We will get back in the studio in between and continue to try and work on our production.
Azasia – Lastly, list down tracks that definitely need to be on everyone’s playlist.
Azasia – Thank you so much for your time. Cheers.
Hybrid Minds – Love you
Do yourselves a favour, and grab this piece of melodic drum and bass beauty.
