MUSIC: Mount Kimbie

The electronic duo go from strength to strength

Since 2009, Dom Maker and Kai Campos have played a central role in forging a new form for electronic music, their influence stretching far beyond the tiny corner of the dance music underground that birthed them. Known as dubstep. Transforming themselves from bedroom-studio producers to creators of the fully formed album Cold Spring Fault Less Youth, they’ve also been refining their live show to incorporate a drummer.

The duo have grown quickly since the release of the debut EP in 2009, and even more so since their dubstep-heavy debut album. “Two years is a long time,” says Maker. “Tastes change, what you want out of your life changes. Naturally, how we want to sound has changed too.”
Cold Spring Fault Less Youth features two vocal collaborations with King Krule. Kai Campos was raised in Cornwall, while Dom Maker in Brighton.

The pair met in halls of residence while studying at London’s Southbank University and bonded over a newfound passion for electronic music, specifically the burgeoning dubstep sound.
“We weren’t particularly trying to break into any kind of scene,” says Campos. “We were just making music that we didn’t even think was that weird at the time, but when you look back on it now…”

Their first two EPs and the Crooks & Lovers album saw Mount Kimbie quickly arrive at the forefront of a new wave of bedroom producers radically re-interpreting the dubstep template. As a live act they evolved quickly, from playing clubs to gig venues and festivals, the duo have had to learn quickly about what it means to be a ‘proper’ live act.

“I’m still really interested in dance music,” says Campos, “it’s just that that world became quite limiting. The more traditional kind of presentation is much better for us, even if that means we’re playing at 9pm in the evening and the crowd is not on pills…” And while the sound of Crooks & Lovers was largely electronic, Cold Spring Fault Less Youth features stronger compositions, more varied arrangements, live elements such as drums, horns, organ and vocals.

As Kai Campos says: “Things have gone as well as they could’ve gone for us so far, in terms of being a small band and finding an audience.”

Mount Kimbie, Concorde 2, Wednesday 6 November, 7.30pm, £10