Slow Hearts is a project that began as a friendship between two neighbours, but has blossomed into a project that’s music has touched souls across the globe. After a decade spent honing their craft, Slow Hearts have stepped into their own as artists; their dynamic, melodic house sound has caught the attention of Steyoyoke, Tale + Tone, and now, All Day I Dream. ‘Melanda’ marks their debut on the Lee Burridge-led imprint, whisking the mind off to idyllic landscapes with gossamer instrumentation and harmonies that tug at the heartstrings. Tim Green additionally joined in on the EP, offering his take on its opening track.
Slow Hearts have until now been quite the enigmatic duo—they like to let their music speak for itself. However, we’ve gotten them to dive a bit more into their world, giving us a glimpse of the minds of these rising talents, their creative process, and what this music means to them.
Hi Andre and Uwe! Thanks for taking the time to sit with us. What have you been up to of late?
Uwe: Hello, thank you for the questions about this interview and your time. We have been to the studio lately and have spent more time with our kids—because of Covid-19 we are very limited at the moment.
Let’s talk about your past. Heard you two were once neighbours and eventually became DJ partners. What is the full story of how you met and realized you had similar musical visions?
André: We both had our own studios in a disused industrial complex and knew each other only from seeing at this time. I was doing minimal techno and Uwe was doing more techno music at this time.
Uwe: We both had the same mastering engineer and we met there often and got into the conversation about going to the studio together. We both quickly found that we and the studio complement and collaborate very well.
What led you to this deep, melodic sound in the first place? What was your first encounter with this music? Was it a natural evolution?
Uwe: Everyone who makes music knows you develop yourself further, and so it was was also in our case. Over the years we have grown from Tech-House music to more Melodic House music. As we heard “Für die Liebe” by Matthew Dekay & Lee Burridge for the first time, we knew that we want to make exactly this sound and this kind of music.
On that note, how have you evolved and grown together as a duo over the past decade? Do you have any advice on achieving flow while working together?
André: Each of us has a studio at home and we already develop our own ideas there. We usually meet twice a week and collect our ideas. We work together on these ideas until it becomes a finished track.
Uwe: I think respect and trust are important, especially in this business.
Pivoting to Melanda, your first EP on All Day I Dream. Tell us a bit about what inspired it, and how you arranged it. Any interesting samples, plugins, or pieces of gear used in its production that you don’t normally use?
André: The tracks for this EP were created between 2018/2019. Eyepads was the first track that was completed relatively quickly as a loop, but it took some time to arrange.
Uwe: André started producing Sands of Time during his vacation. The title was almost finished when we met in the studio and I was immediately impressed.
Andrè: Planaria emerged from a jam session and was finished in one evening. We work with Ableton Live and plugins from Native Instruments, Arturia and Waves. As hardware we have a Moog Sub37 and a Machindrum SPS1 MK2
You’ve released on Tale + Tone before; seems you go back with Lee, or maybe Hoj. How did you begin working with these two legends?
Uwe: We had the first contact with Hoj on Facebook in 2015. He liked our remix for Eagles & Butterflies and so we stayed in touch and later we released our first EP on Tale and Tone. When we finished the 3 tracks for the Melanda EP he made contact with Lee and the rest is history.
Many say this kind of music has connective properties. Do you agree? If so, why do you think this is more connective than others? Does it have to do with the instrumentation, the melodies, the softness?
André: Yes, we totally agree with you. It’s more about harmonies and feeling with this type of music. The choice of sounds and arrangement is very important, but not always that easy. It should sound emotional but not easy.
We heard you both are into fitness; one into BMX, the other into HIIT workouts. Do you believe that maintaining a strong fitness routine gives you mental clarity to create in the studio? In what other ways has physical health aided your musical journey?
Uwe: We both found a very good balance through our respective sport. You really get the focus on tha what you dot at this moment and that can be very liberating and helpful when making music.
André: You might hear different music than normal when doing sports and that can influence you to a certain point
Finally, what’s coming next for Slow Hearts?
André: There will be a new release on Tale and Tone and Keyfound Records. As well as some remixes from us.
Thanks for catching up with us guys… for those interested, you can buy Slow Hearts new release on All day I Dream from …HERE…
