Ssol: I'd like to focus on one record at a time

We are happy to welcome our next guest, Ssol!

SSOL has started writing his own chapter to this musical story with a string of hot releases including most notably 'Think For Yourself', and 'At Your Side'. SSOL has been supported with releases on heavyweight label Profound, has an upcoming EP with Low Ceiling, and has been featured on live streams of Jax Jones' apple radio show, James Hypes Stereotype Global. SSOLs music has also been featured live by a number of top DJs including Shift K3y and Don't Blink.

We caught up with the man himself to find more about his upcoming release 'Andele' on RIM and other projects. Enjoy!
— Hello Jacob! How are you doing these days? It's a pleasure to be chatting with you.
— Great, just got back from a mad trip to East Asia, it's been a dream to check out Seoul in South Korea for a while now and I was lucky enough to stay there for a week, then my best mate got married in the Philippines which was pretty magical. Back to the UK in time for Andele to come out with RIM!
— For any of our readers unfamiliar, can you tell us a bit about yourself and about your artistic project "Ssol"?
— I started Ssol as a project towards the beginning of Covid lockdown in the UK. My family is full of musicians and Ssol is actually a play on my Grandads name Joe "Loss" (Ssol Backwards). Joe was the conductor of an extremely influential big band dance orchestra from the 40's - 70's in the UK. My project has focused around tech house, but I've explored melodic house, techno, and latin house with my various releases. I'm not sure how he'd feel about my music but I'd like to think he'd appreciate it!
— How would you describe your current sound, and why have you chosen to pursue this particular brand electronic music over other styles? What is it about the genre that you love so much?
— I've tried to steer clear of pidgeonholing one particular sound. I've got demo's that are bass house, melodic house, techno, etc. But I do love building out percussive driven demos that centre around a quirky melodic hook like in 'Andele'. I actually don't always produce tracks with a view to playing them myself, but tracks like 'Andele' fit right into the groovy, percussive driven sets I like to perform so it's a particularly fun track to release in that regard!
— Massive congratulations on your upcoming debut release "Andele" on RIM. Can you talk to us more about this release and how it came about?
— Thank you, RIM is an awesome label to be a part of and I'm really happy to have found 'Andele' a great home! As I said before, one of my favourite ways to build out a record is to start with a quirky but memorable melodic hook and partner it with a percussive driven groove. 'Andele' came together very quickly in this regard and I knew it was going to be something I'd want to play myself from pretty early in the production process.
— What do you enjoy most about being an artist? And what do you struggle with the most?
— I don't really consider myself an artist, or consider music a choice. It's my creative outlet, I've been doing it as long as I remember and it's an important part of who I am and how I interact with the world. But as the Ssol project has grown one massively fulfilling thing has been the opportunity to meet other producers that I admire especially in the context of playing gigs together or collaborating on records. I think, like most producers, everything that happens after completing a record can ironically be the most stressful. Pitching the demo's to A&R's, marketing, promotion, etc. can all be draining at times as you're exposing a personal side of you to the world. However, that's certainly become easier with time!
— Do you have any hobbies outside of music?
— Loads! I do a lot of tech development work with machine learning and AI. I've been programming for a long time. I also play a lot of chess and try to make it to the gym every day. If I had more hours in the day I'd try to play more video games too!
— Thanks for your time today, Jacob. To round off, is there anything else upcoming form yourself that you'd like to share with us?
— I'd like to focus on one record at a time so for now I'm hoping everyone gives 'Andele' a spin! Gigs wise I'm working on the summer at the moment, I'd like to get out to the US again like last year, and I'd also like to play in Europe this summer, I'll make sure to keep any updates on that on my Insta!