For someone who’s been making music for just two and a half years, alongside doing a PHD in Biostatistics, Thomas Neyens has done pretty well for himself. With a string of successful releases on celebrated imprint We Play House Recordings and equally reputable Belgian label Eskimo Recordings, as well as a nomination for 2013’s best Belgian breakthrough artist and two residencies at two of Belgium’s most infamous underground parties - Nachtwerk and Genk’s Taxi Tanzbar - he has firmly established himself as one of the key players in his nation’s electronic music scene.

Now with a release on DFTD under his belt, Defected’s Hannah Thomas sets out to find out how Neyens - under his Kiani and His Legion moniker - has managed to make such a significant impact in such a short space of time.

“Before I started producing I had been DJing for ten years or so and I had a very clear vision of the music that I wanted to create" opens Neyens. "That’s why I think I managed to get this far so quickly. I had the feeling that some tracks were missing in my record bag so I started to learn the basics on Ableton.” A year later, ‘Records and Culture’ was born and was immediately snapped up by Red D, for FCL’s We Play House Recordings.

“My first release was on We Play House last summer. Some friends of mine said I had to send it out to labels, so I sent it to Bart (Red D) because we’d played together before. I played him this record and he wanted to sign it, and some other tracks, straight away. ‘Records and Culture’ has this long siren, which gives it a strange eerie feeling initially but then it kicks into this sunny house groove. I like to have these unexpected turns on a dance floor, but not many tracks are made like that so I think that was the reason why the track got to where it is now.”

Indeed, Records and Culture, is by no means conventional in its composition, opening with shadowy atmospherics which then gives in suddenly to a melodic piano which spurs the track suddenly into life. Nor is the title track from his Legions From the East EP. It’s a slow burner, warming up with a soft bass line that gracefully pulses until a piano breakdown makes way for floods of synths. But as Neyens explains, adopting a nonconformist approach is not always his intention in the studio. 

“Actually it comes in waves. Sometimes I like the no-nonsense kind of tracks and others, I go for the more unusual types of track” he admits. “I always have an idea of what I want to make – some things happen randomly and by pure chance but I always have an idea of what kind of feel I would like to evoke with my productions. I am inspired by emotions. On a good day, I tend to make house and when I have a rough day it moves more towards techno.”

Despite his varied and experimental attitude towards the music making process it’s impressive that Neyens has managed to carve out a distinctive sound for himself, a sound that he feels makes his records stand out from much of what is out there. He explains that in part, and in an indirect way, it came about because of his dislike for tech house.

“I don’t really like tech house. But I’m not here to judge” he hastens to add. “Everybody can do their own thing of course, but it’s getting a bit too much for me lately. I think that my music brings trance back a bit. I Iove strings, the more melodic Detroit sound mixed with influences coming from trance. For me, a lot of music is kind of dry at the moment”. And by dry he means “the loopy dryness of tech house. The lack of melody, the use of vocal sample on rhythm loops – everybody is crazy about that now. I think that’s going to change and that’s where I think I differ compared to the rest.”

It’s apparent, then, that Thomas Neyens is certainly no follower and dedicates his efforts to remaining faithful to the sound he loves. The popularity of any particular sub-genre or what is deemed ‘cool’ in the underground carries little currency in his world. He prefers instead to exist in what he refers to as the ‘semi-underground’ scene.

“By semi-underground I mean doing whatever you like, but not minding that lots of people like it. I think that a lot of self-proclaimed underground artists actually aim for a situation where not everybody likes their music – they’re only interested in gaining support from those people who ‘understand’ it. That’s not my way of thinking. Everybody may like what I do; I just don’t try to make music everyone will like.”

Nor then is having a more widespread and a commercial appeal a concern of his. In fact the changing scene where he grew up gave him a strong aversion to the superstar DJ syndrome.

“Everybody was listening to Electroclash, 2 Many DJs, Justice… that kind of stuff. 2 Many DJs I respect because they really mean something for the dance scene, but the others I wasn’t too fond of. They brought this rock and roll type of DJ to the clubs. I preferred guys like Jeff Mills, Derrick May, Ricardo Villalobos – the visionaries that were only concerned about the music, not the T-shirt they were wearing.”

And it’s a problem that has got worse for Thomas. “It has all become too much like MTV. When I see Gesaffelstein put on a stage literally 10 meters above the crowd, it’s clear to me that it’s not about the music anymore. It’s about image and that’s really sad.”

For Neyens it should be more about the party. “I saw this documentary about Larry Levan and some woman said that he had this idea that “the whole room had to sweat from the same body”. That was beautifully said and nails it perfectly for me. I’m playing at Panorama Bar soon where there’s no stage and the DJs are on the same floor as the people. There is this semi-underground scene that is still really legit and that’s the stuff I like to try and be a part of.”

Words: Hannah Thomas

Legions From The East is out now on DFTD – buy from Beatport and Traxsource