A chat with Berkeley Hunt

On the latest Soul Quest release, the imprint is proud to present the latest offering from off-kilter sorcerer Berkeley Hunt, who serves up a dazzling array of simmering, jazz-laden atmospheres that take in all manner of beautiful rhythmic puzzles and kinetic melodic sequences…

Berkeley Hunt may have just begun his production journey, but his sound has already made its presence felt in more ways than one. Shadowplays abound within their musical universe, where in-between moments hit in the same manner as constructed ones, leaving the imagination to go figure and feel out the unravelled sonics to maximum effect. Revolving around the modern Jazz and broken beat sound, Hunt feels the notches out with impressive dexterity, taking note of evolving soundscapes and how their morphology may lead into enticing territories. As such, there is a wondrous unpredictability to Hunt’s compositions, where the end feels out of sight as much as hearing their music in the moment remains a deeply illuminating and fulfilling experience. 2024’s ‘Adversperate’ speaks to Hunt’s wandering hands and ears, displaying an eagerness to fill out the space with objects and elements that transcend - and that are always placed with purpose and meaning.

‘A Ghostly Tryst’ is the next step in Hunt’s journey, with the EP’s title speaking of discrete romantic rendezvous - a love story if you will, with a lush twist on proceedings. ‘It Called’ kicks things off with filtered piano chords and a whispering kick opening up the experience. As clear as day, the vocal line lands, igniting the underlying elements to elevate in volume, with the percussion intensifying in jest. A curious yet enthralling opening salvo. ‘Wicked Sins’ stirs into life with a typically Hunt style rhythm, one which refuses to settle and instead shifts continuously around the environment. A somewhat haunting atmosphere chills in the backdrop, with eerie synths and vocal samples helping to soundtrack an absorbing and overtly enchanting scene.

House producer wizard Stefan Ringer steps up to the plate with his take on ‘Wicked Sins’, which breaks through the magical convolutions of the original in creating an equally hypnotic version. A shifting yet precise groove provides the bedrock for which the melodic features up top can shift and feel themselves out, with delicate additions aiding in maintaining the feel of the original. Finally, ‘Lost in the Delirium’ showcases Hunt in full flow, with glassy chordal notions striking across a truly emphatic percussive outlay. A momentum like no other, where delicacy is paired with broken rhythms from up above, it's a tour de force that sees out the experience with grace and fever - one which taps into the collective imagination, and leaves with many a memory and poetic image in the back pocket.

Off the back of this stellar EP we had the pleasure of sitting down with Berkeley Hunt for a chat. Here's how it went down…

Hi Berkeley Hunt, great to meet you. How’s your day going?

Yeah pretty good thanks. I’m actually in the Algarve at the moment. I moved to Lisbon last year, it’s been pretty non-stop so nice to finally take some time out. Right now I’m chilling with my dog. 

Congratulations on releasing ‘A Ghostly Tryst’ on Soul Quest Record. Can you talk us through the release?

Sure! I’m really happy to be putting it out. It’s quite a natural progression from my last EP. I had some early versions of ‘It Called’ floating around for quite some time, wanting to move towards a more earthy sound. I always liked trying to make all my elements sound like they’re playing in a band that’s a bit tipsy: wonky but wonky together, and knew I wanted to keep exploring that. I still had a massive collection of samples from my radio show on Balamii. The sketches for the first 2 tracks came together quite naturally and they really conjured up smokey basement bars and a loose idea of ‘falling in love with a ghost’. My wife is a much better story teller than me and she loved the premise, and we ended up writing a short story together, probably over a bottle of wine and a joint, and that really helped me to flesh out the last track and tie everything together. The Stefan Ringer remix really takes it beyond a fictional club to a real one and ties it all together.  

How did the link up with the Soul Quest come about?

Very naturally actually. I was listening to Oxigenio, a Lisbon-based radio station which I love, whilst in the car and Max’s ‘Let you in’ came on. I loved it and instantly shazammed it, saw the name Max Sinàl, and thought it sounded familiar. I realised he had recently given me some positive feedback on my last EP, checked him out, found Soul Quest through him and really liked everything they were doing. Their backcatalogue ended up soundtracking my wife and I moving into our first apartment in Lisbon, I saw they had a demo submission link on their instagram and the rest is history! 

Where did you grow up and how did your environment shape your relationship with music?

I grew up in a little town in Lancashire. I can’t claim Manc status, but growing up around Manchester there’s a rich musical legacy, and I feel like I was lucky to have come of age when I did. Dubstep was peaking and the incredible melting pot that sort of came towards the end and afterwards that, for me, was a really interesting period where you could see really different sounds from artists like James Blake, Hudson Mohawke, Zomby, Joker, Pearson Sound, Ikonika, all under the same banner. It was less about genre and more about attitude, or at least that’s how I perceived it, and that has always stuck with me… Plus my parents played a lot of Led Zeppelin growing up. That definitely made its way in too…

Can you share some insight into your creative process when producing music? Do you have any particular rituals or methods that help you stay inspired?‍

I think what’s really important is figuring out what works for you. You can read endless interviews of producers telling you their tips, but ultimately that’s what works for them and figuring out your own style and workflow is really important. 

Being a producer now entails so much, so separating out the steps of the process really helps for me. Separating out sketching ideas, to full on arrangement, to adding ear candy, to mixing is critical, and it’s often not so linear. But also, to collaborate and talk through ideas with people, and also understand that you don’t need to do everything all by yourself. Creativity is collaborative! I speak to my wife a lot about direction and story, Al my engineer about all things sound and mixing. I realised my strengths are with playing and the more musical aspects, but it’s important to know your weaknesses too and there’s no shame in getting help. It’s an ongoing exploration and one that I hope never stops. What I am learning though is when I try to force myself to work on music ‘because I have to’ and say no to plans, lock myself in my office rather than living life, it rarely works. More often, inspiration comes after a fulfilling day when I’m feeling good. Finding new music always helps too.

It sounds like you’re a keen digger and have flipped some cool jazz samples on this EP… can you give us your top tip in sampling effectively?

Absolutely. Separate the process. The worst thing you can do is be building a track and then think “I want a sample” and go look for one. You don’t need to have everything all neatly cut out and labelled, but building your own sample library is key, and building it is a task in itself. And a joyous one! 

What's your go to piece of studio gear or plug in?

I love my Space Case Te-1. The drums on the EP are a live drum kit that we pushed through the Te-1. It’s been all over both my current and last EP, and it’s really versatile in what you can do with it.  But I have to give a massive shout out to my engineer Al Green aka Bleeky from Instra:mental aka Boddika. He has been absolutely critical in shaping the sound of both this EP and the last. Every time I go in he’s got some new toys to play with and he’s always experimenting too which is really inspiring, and there’s so much analogue gear all over the EP it’s actually hard to pull out specific ones. Support your local engineer! 

When you think back to your earliest projects, what’s something you would do differently now?

Enjoy the process and take out the pressure. I remember thinking if I hadn’t released some music by the age of 25 I’d quit because I had some preconceived notion of ‘making it’. In the end I was almost 32, but now I’m quite happy that I went through a lot of growing pains as an artist before putting anything out. I can’t imagine having to go through all that in some sort of spotlight… I saw a quote recently from Miles Davis “Man, sometimes it takes a long time to sound like yourself”. It feels good to know what I sound like. 

‍When you are not busy with music, what might we find you doing?

My friends tell me I have lots of hobbies. When I get the time I’m quite an avid gamer, but actually I’m quite happy pottering around, walking my dog, having lunch out. I’m trying to embrace my new Portuguese life, and I really enjoy the Portuguese culture of just sitting outside. Slowly eating, taking a coffee and having a little chat. But also I do a lot of coding in my job, I like problem solving, enjoy yoga and hopefully will get back to learning game coding soon! 

Which 3 records never leave your bag?

I haven’t been DJing too much recently, something I want to put right! But there’s always something from the Money $ex Records catalogue in rotation. I really don’t get bored of it. There’s always some Jan Jelinek in the mix too. Often Loop-Finding-Jazz, but since we’re more on the housey tip with the release, there’s normally something from STL in there too. Always loved his scuzzed and swung beats and what feels like an uncompromised vision.

Finally, what do you have coming up in the next few months? Feel free to mention anything!

I should have a remix coming out over here in Lisbon on a local label, remixing my good friend Afonso Patinhas which is really fun as it’s my first time doing a remix. Other than that there’s a really vibrant Hip-Hop scene in Portugal (Hip-Hop Tuga) that I’d love to try and get involved with, but also enjoying summer and heading to the beach! 

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