Interview by Ellis May.
Celebrating over a decade at the forefront of modern house music, Fouk have carved out a sound that effortlessly bridges deep house, funk, disco and jazz. From standout releases on labels like Heist and Outplay to a growing catalogue on Freerange Records, the Dutch duo have built a reputation for productions that are rich in musicality, groove and timeless appeal. Fresh from the success of ‘Moon’ on the Freerange 30 Years comp, Fouk are back on the London label with a new EP that balances dancefloor energy with moments of reflection. We caught up with Daniel and Hans to discuss collaboration, creativity, studio philosophy and the enduring essence of the Fouk sound.
You’ve become one of the most recognizable names in modern deep house over the last decade. Looking back, what aspects of the Fouk sound have remained constant, and what has changed the most?
Thank you, we’re glad you think so 🙂 One of the biggest things that has changed, and had the most impact on us, is our work-life balance. We both have families to take care of, and those who know, know what an impact that has on the time available.
We have changed over the years, less sampling for instance, but our love for a loose-limbed groove is still present in everything we do. We are more house music-focused, with quite an old-school US house influence, to be exact. The Fouk sound is still very much connected to the crossover with disco and funk.
After the success of Moon on 30 Years Of Freerange Vol. 2, did that track’s reception influence your confidence or direction when finishing this new EP?
Yes, we were very pleased with the reaction to Moon! It has influenced us to keep holding on to that special feeling you get when something clicks in the studio. The essence of the track was created in the space of an hour and, yes, we tweaked a lot, but we didn’t add much to it. That power of “simplicity” is what we carried forward when creating new music.
You’ve now built a strong relationship with Freerange Records. What is it about the label that continues to bring out the best in your music?
Freerange Records is one of the fundamental labels that built our deep love for house music. The consistency of quality releases they’ve put out is amazing. Freerange really has its own thing when you compare it to other labels. The way they do A&R makes it stand out, and it continues to do so after all these years. So for us to be able to release music on FR is a fantastic feeling. It really feels like the way our music has evolved over the years has made it a great match for the label’s sound.
The new EP flows beautifully from uplifting, soulful moments to more reflective territory. Was there a particular narrative or emotional journey you wanted listeners to experience?
We do a lot intuitively. Yes, we do think about the story and the type of track we want to create, but in the end it must flow from our feelings. We’ve learned over the years that we can’t force something that won’t come out, and instead just embrace the flow of it for our own original tracks.
The tracks on this EP are a reflection of our state of mind, our feelings, and just having fun creating something together. For an EP, we do want to tell some kind of story. So that’s why, next to dancefloor business, we always want to include an introspective track, one that just makes you stop and listen, not just another dancefloor banger.
Mighty Lover features Dutch vocalist LYMA, whose voice brings a huge amount of warmth and character to the track. How did that collaboration come together?
Yes, he’s a great guy, a wonderful singer and musician! We knew his music very well and always loved his work. We met in person at ADE a couple of years ago and started chatting about collaborating. It still took about two years to finally do something together, though!
When working with a vocalist like LYMA, do you build the music around the vocal performance, or do you prefer to present a nearly finished instrumental first?
It depends. For Mighty Lover, we already had a finished instrumental track and sent that to LYMA, and he recorded his parts separately. Then we added those to the project and tweaked/changed things in the instrumental to fit the vocal parts better. It worked out perfectly, as LYMA already had great production value in the parts that he sent. They integrated into the arrangement seamlessly 🙂
The arrangement on Mighty Lover feels detailed yet effortless. How do you strike the balance between adding musical complexity and keeping things dancefloor-focused?
We do a lot by feeling, so it might be hard to explain. We never lose focus on the dancefloor (at least with house tracks). Yes, we love to make our productions very detailed, however we’ve learned to rein it in and correct ourselves by not overcomplicating the arrangement. We love to add more and more, but learned that it can take away from the focus and essence of a track.
The Message has that unmistakable Fouk combination of jazz, soul and groove. What musical influences were inspiring you while writing the track?
We always find a question about musical influences very difficult to answer. For The Message, we started with a chord progression very much inspired by one of our musical heroes, Crackazat. We have huge respect for everything he makes, the musicality is next level. So yes, he’s a big inspiration!
Your productions often sound warm, organic and deeply human. How much of that comes from your choice of equipment, and how much comes from your approach to composition?
For us, it’s way more about composition and production than the right equipment. You can make perfectly organic-sounding music just using plugins and staying in the box. It’s the way you play your instruments, choose your sounds and process them (and you don’t necessarily need analogue gear for that). The only thing with hardware synths is that, for us, they make it feel more natural as it’s a very tactile experience.
Higher State features some particularly expressive chord work and Moog lines. Are there any synthesizers or pieces of studio gear that played a key role in shaping this record?
Hans started out writing the main chord progression on the Jupiter X in his home studio and then creating a beat around it. The first sketch of an arrangement was finished, but it was missing something. We thought about adding a vocalist to the project, but after we added some more electronic sounds, for instance a synth lead that winds throughout the track, it finally rounded off the production.
We used Spectrasonics Keyscape for the piano, a Roland Jupiter X for the melodies, and some other soft synths here and there, like Ondine from Teletone Audio for the bassline and UAD PolyMax for the pads.
One of the strengths of your music is that it never feels rushed. Tracks are allowed to breathe and evolve naturally. Is patience an important part of your production philosophy?
Yes, very much so. We don’t rush our productions and tend to take our time. That’s also because we are not easily satisfied with the results, so we often let ideas sit for a while and percolate. Sometimes that gives you the key idea needed to perfect a production. We’ll admit that this can be a frustrating process too because it delays that sense of accomplishment you get when finishing a project.
Long Way Home closes the EP on a more introspective note. Why did you feel that was the right way to end the release?
Because tracks like these are part of our musical essence. Like we said, house music is so much more than just dancefloor bangers. It’s a nice way to round off the EP, we feel 🙂
Having spent years remixing artists as diverse as Groove Armada, Dave Lee, Mayer Hawthorne and Adina Howard, what have remixes taught you about your own production style?
That it’s so much FUN remixing other people’s music! Remixing is a very big part of house music and it just feels natural for us to do. Non-house tracks are the best ones to remix, especially when you get to work with material from artists you really look up to! It has also taught us a lot about how to work with vocals.
You both had successful careers before launching Fouk. How do Daniel and Hans challenge each other creatively in the studio after all these years?
We think right now it’s the way we’ve arranged our creative workflow while juggling everything life throws at us in this phase of (family) life.
We’ve made a nice setup where Hans sketches a lot of ideas during the week, which we then get to flesh out in our very limited studio time together. We challenge each other by just calling things how they are, very Dutch, very direct, haha. If we’re not feeling something the other does, we discuss it openly. We’ve been friends since high school, we know each other through and through.
House music trends come and go, yet Fouk’s music has always felt relatively timeless. Do you consciously avoid following trends when writing records?
It’s what we strive for, and we’re glad to hear you think so. We are not deluding ourselves into saying we are not influenced by trends, but we are very committed to just doing our own thing and sticking to it. With “our own thing”, it doesn’t mean that it’s static. We don’t want to do the same thing over and over again for years. We just do what feels right for us.
You’ve played everywhere from Glastonbury and Lovebox to Output and Space Miami. Which environments tend to suit Fouk music best: intimate clubs, festivals or late-night basement spaces?
While we love playing at large events, nothing beats the feeling of a late-night intimate basement filled with like-minded people.
After another strong run of original productions, collaborations and high-profile remixes, what excites you most about the next chapter for Fouk?
That it’s still not over for us after doing this for more than a decade and that we have so much more music to share. It’s the greatest feeling that we still get to do this! We’re not saying it has been easy, it’s difficult at times with the fast pace of the music scene and trying to stay somewhat relevant. The fact that people are still feeling our musical output means the world to us, so thank you so much!
Buy FOUK – Mighty Lover EP from Juno
FOUK on Instagram
FOUK on Bandcamp
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