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Melleefresh and Hectic bring high-energy vibes with ‘The Play Deep Sessions’
Melleefresh and Hectic have shared insights on their new collaborative album
The talented Melleefresh and Hectic recently joined forces for a collaborative production titled, ‘The Play Deep Sessions’; an album worth of dancefloor gems, the collection featured two brand-new tracks from the pair, ‘Drop It’ and ‘Sonic State’. With the productions showcasing the vibrant signature style of Melleefresh and the impressive abilities of Hectic when it comes to curating high-energy listening experiences, the release no doubt served as a powerful reminder of both Melleefresh’s and Hectic’s talents. So, today we’re looking forward to sitting down with the pair to learn more about the process behind ‘The Play Deep Sessions’, and the collaborative journey that led to such an impactful release.
Hi, Melleefresh & Hectic! Congrats on the release of 'The Play Deep Sessions’! How have you been?
Hectic: Very good thanks. We’re really happy with the reception so far for the album and really pleased with the collection of tracks that we managed to put together.
Melleefresh: We’re right now at Play Deep Studios in Kings Cross doing some new recordings!
Could you share with us your vision and musical influences behind the creation of this hypnotic House and Techno collection?
Hectic/Melleefresh: I think the vision for this album was to put together a really solid collection of dancefloor-focused tracks that could work well in both the club and on radio. We wanted each track to have a unique, catchy element, a solid hook, and a memorable chorus that would draw you in, and make you want to sing along.
How did this collaboration come about this time?
Hectic: We’ve worked on lots of tracks together in the past, mainly with me remixing Mellee’s tracks but the first original track we made together was ‘Snap It’, which is on the album. This was released a few years ago as a single and then we recorded a few more tracks after that, resulting in ‘Push’ and ‘Squeeze Me’ as well as our Christmas song ‘Santa’s Messy Girl’ one of my favourites…says Mellee.
Melleefresh: Whenever I’m in London, I always see who from the label is up for coming to my studio in Kings Cross, Play Deep Studios, to collab and record something. Late last year, Hectic and I were in the studio for about 4 days and all of a sudden, we had an album worth of tracks. It all came together in a very comfortable, organic enjoyable way.
Can you share more details of the production process behind this release? Did you work on these tracks together in the studio or remotely?
Hectic: All of the tracks were originally created in my home studio and then when Mellee was in London, we got together in the studio at Play Deep to listen to the instrumentals and record vocals. Once the vocals were captured, I would take them back to my studio and fine-tune and finesse everything. From there we could email different versions back and forth until we were both happy with them.
Can you walk us through your creative process for ‘Drop It’ and ‘Sonic State’?
Hectic: ‘Drop It’ started off as just an idea I had made with a new piece of kit by Teenage Engineering called the KO.ii. It was a catchy drum loop at first and then more layers were added to flesh out the track once I recorded it into Ableton Live. The moment an initial idea came together, with the main synth melody, we recorded a few hooks, until we had loads of different versions to go through as well as backing vocals.
‘Sonic State’ was very similar, but that all started while I was at home playing around on the Moog Mother-32 and Behringer Edge. They’re a great combo that can be easily patched together to make some unique-sounding bass sounds. Again, it started off with just a loop of the distorted 808-type sound you hear at the very start and then more elements were added. Even though that track sounds very dense it was only really made of the 4 or 5 different elements in the end.
Melleefresh: Hectic does the musical production and I get to have fun coming up with some crazeeee vocals, accents, and vocal modifications using Melodyne, Vocoders, some Chris Lord Algee WAVES vocal chains - I love to see where my voice can go, the characters that come out, sometimes it’s so otherworldly I even surprise myself.
What about this collaboration are you most proud of?
Hectic: What a lovely surprise this has been. We didn’t really start off with the intention to make an album, from doing some random recordings on some beats in my computer to putting together something that sounds cohesive and fun and each track kind of organically flows into each other really well.
Melleefresh: I love the chorus in ‘Sonic State’, that kinda of came from a thought bubble! And a sound I was fooling around with.
Were there challenges you faced in producing these tracks together? And how did you overcome them?
Hectic: The biggest challenge was probably the geographical distance between us, at times, and the time difference which made finishing off some of these tracks take a bit longer than usual - all in all it was a very effortless process and when we were in the studio together we managed to record a lot in a very short space of time. I then had plenty of time to finish everything off and get it all sounding right in my studio at home.
What is one thing you want listeners to take away from ‘The Play Deep Sessions’?
Hectic: I’d like people to enjoy the album and listen to it multiple times.
Melleefresh: I’d like to know people are inspired to dance and sing along, that the lyrics are infectious and the beats make your feet wanna dance!
What’s coming up for Mellefresh, Hectic, and Play Records? Do you have any more collaborations coming soon or with other artists?
Melleefresh: Play Records will do a remix competition through Label Radar so other producers and artists can get involved. These will probably come out towards the end of the year into 2025 - Play Deep Sessions Remixed -those are always interesting compilations.
Hectic: We’ve also just recorded some new tracks this week, so look out for some new music from us coming soon, of course, a new Christmas Banger, Mellee loves her Christmas House tracks and possibly a live gig when Mellee is back in London in Sept or October of this year – TBA.
We end our interview with Melleefresh and Hectic by thanking them for their time and sharing a glimpse into their creativity as a collaborative force. With more exciting releases in the pipeline, we look forward to hearing more from the pair soon. So, be sure to discover the energetic sounds of ‘The Play Deep Sessions’ for yourself and stay up-to-date with both Melleefresh and Hectic by following them across social media.
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Listen to ‘The Play Deep Sessions’ below.
