The Presets Interview - Collaborating With Golden Features
We caught up with Jules from The Presets to chat about the project’s recent collaborative EP with powerhouse, Golden Features. The Raka EP blend’s the best of The Presets’ grunge filled electro with Golden Features’ boisterous party atmosphere. Delve into The Preset’s creative process, and collaboration with Golden Features.
Futuremag Music: Hey Jules, how's life, the universe and everything?
The Presets: Fine, dandy, and stuff like that.
Futuremag Music: Could you talk us through the creative process of The Presets and how that morphed when working with Golden Features?
The Presets: With The Presets both Kim and I are the sole writers, engineers, musical directors, etc. Aside from mixing and mastering, we do everything ourselves. More recently we've invited friends to contribute to our music, but we still fly the plane. We are not very good at delegating responsibilities to anyone else - every lyric, every beat, every note; we carry the entire concept for our albums in our own heads from the very first kick drum or lyrical idea to the day of album release. It is wonderful to be in a position where we are able to spend 2 years working on a Presets album, but it does require a lot of self-belief, discipline and stamina to maintain momentum and see the project through to its end. At times that can be rather exhausting.
Working with Tom (Golden Features) was a very welcome change. Having a third person to collaborate with, to bounce ideas off and (most importantly for me) take some of the artistic weight of the project was awesome. Having someone outside the band who was able to take a step back and take a wide view of the project whilst we worked allowed me to relax a little and focus more closely on the things that I prefer doing - like songwriting. Tom is also a very fast producer - much faster than Kim or I. We could sketch really basic ideas together, then have him spit them back at us over email like a day later, sounding super polished and killer.
The Presets x Golden Features (Provided)
Futuremag Music: The Presets are serial collaborators, who do you think the project is going to join forces with next?
The Presets: It's interesting you say that. I guess we collaborated a lot on Hi-Viz, but up until that point we’ve pretty much been doing everything ourselves. For 14 years my voice was the only vocal to appear on any of our releases (aside from the odd backing vocal). Not a guest rapper to be found in four albums and 3 EPS! That being said, the Hi-Viz experience was really enjoyable, and I’ve loved working with Tom on this last thing. So I am definitely up for working with some other producers. I have been wanting to make a more straight ahead techno release since pretty much 2007 - so I am hoping we can hook up with some heavy techno producers next year. That would be dope.
Futuremag Music: To wrap it up, if The Presets were a cocktail, what would be in it to best describe the project in design and sonic?
The Presets: Ha. I wish I could say Martini (my obvious fav) - but they are too cool, clear and sophisticated to truly represent us. The Presets would more be like one of those confused long iced-tea drinks, with WAY to many ingredients, and too many competing flavours - and you’d definitely be hammered after drinking half of one.
The Presets x Golden Features (Provided)