Karen Gwyer will release a new album, entitled Rembo, this June via Don’t Be Afraid.
It’s the London-based US producer’s third album, and her first for the label, following on from LPs with No Pain In Pop and Opal Tapes. The album is comprised of eight tracks, grouped in four pairs with "call and response" titles.
"I do think the dance scene right now is so rigid," Gwyer says. "And I’m not really sure why producers are seen as less desirable as DJs. Perhaps there’s a prejudice that implies that DJs are more engaged with the crowd, that they can take the vibe in the room and run with it, and I don’t really hear people say that so much about producers playing live."
A number of the album’s tracks have come about from gradual evolution across various live shows. "What I’m doing is trying to challenge a certain way of thinking," she adds. "I feel like, without it being said, I get treated as a warm up act for DJs. And I also feel like when I go and play, I want to disprove that notion. I’m standing there for an hour, and I don’t necessarily know what’s going to happen. I have a loose idea, but I’m definitely working the crowd. I’d like people to shift their thinking in regards to what producers are doing, and to acknowledge the fact that there’s a lot of decision making happening on a second-by-second basis, and a lot of it is improvisational."
The album is out on June 30 and you can hear lead track ‘The Workers Are On Strike’ above.
