Bristol is more than simply rump-shaking bass, as Defected’s Ben Lovett finds out from Sean McCabe, the 28-year-old soul-house sophisticate who’s been championing a warmer, groovier, more emotive side to the city in recent years.

McCabe’s is an impressive story so far, the artist wrapping his first studio work in 2003 aged just 17 (including a remix of 11am’s ‘Give It Up’ on Soulfuric Deep) and assuredly progressing to a long-term relationship with legendary US house imprint King Street. Through that, sublime reworks of Dennis Ferrer, Blaze and disco royalty Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King followed, and the cementing of McCabe’s status as part of  ‘real’ house music’s second coming.

McCabe’s production talents were first noticed in 2002, after his work alongside Justin Stride (Black Sonix) and Phil Evans. Originally hailing from South Wales, he soon joined the Southern Divide studio crew (eventual founders of cult local imprint Mountain Records) and gained the support of several mentors including Galaxy and Vibe FM taste-maker Deli G. Those early releases on Mountain, Soulfuric Deep and former Defected sub-label Fluential earned him closer industry attention. His unique revisiting of house’s original New Jersey, dub-garage and Afro blueprints translated well to the club too, effusive sets at Southport Weekender endearing him to the die-hards whilst engaged performances across Europe, Asia and the US delivered brand new dance disciples.


Latterly, McCabe has remixed Donae’o, Mr V, Joey Negro and Groove Assassin & Kenny Bobien, whilst helming svelte, original productions with Stephanie Cook (‘Just A Little Bit’, 2011) and Adeola Ranson (‘A Little More Love’, 2011). His discography spans everything from Tribe and Vega Records to Strictly Rhythm and Defected. But this month’s long-awaited debut album It’s Time, out on Z Records, marks his full emergence as a music-maker – an opus built reassuringly upon nothing other than original sounds, songs, and compositional structures  and boasting a hot-to-trot cast of international collaborators including vocalists Diane Charlemagne, Jennifer Wallace and Reel People favourite Renn. It’s time for us to catch up with McCabe’s inexorable  rise....

How are you then Mr McCabe…

I’m good! I’ve recently moved into a new house so I’ve been busy getting the studio set up. It always takes a while getting the studio room to sound nice at a new place – sticking up acoustic foam tiles in all different parts of the room and positioning the studio monitors trying to get things sounding perfect. Almost there now!

It’s Time – why now? You’ve largely remixed and DJ’d for the past decade…

Honestly, I knew I wanted to do more original material but I never thought about doing my own album. I thought I’d only want to do it if the opportunity came up, which luckily it did. Dave [Lee] approached me about doing an album while I was in the middle of remixing for Z Records. He said to me: ‘instead of doing more remixes how do you feel about doing an album for us?’ The conversation all started from there. It makes sense really. Almost all of the music in my remixes is written and played be me, so apart from the vocals it’s all original material. 

Tell us about making the album....

It took around three years to make, even though most of the ideas from the first year never made it onto the final album; not to mention I was still churning out a lot of remixes and productions during that time too. I found making the album was very different to remixing. I was able to explore my sound a bit more than usual – be a bit more experimental. The biggest challenge was starting ideas without songs. I was so used to remixing, which involved writing music to vocals that already created a basis for the key, the chord progressions and so on. It was tougher to create an interesting structure to a track without a song already there but it was refreshing not to be bound by following a vocal, I could go wherever I wanted. Most of the album was built in stages so I could bounce ideas back and forth with songwriters.

Can you elaborate on those songwriters and your other collaborators? There’s quite a line-up....

Yeah, there are so many talented, talented singers and musicians on this project. There’s Nathan Adams who’s a super-talented young lad out of London; Big Ed from Chicago’s legendary Blak Beatniks; Andy Compton from The Rurals, who helped with some of the guitar lines on there; and the man Donae’o did a killer vocal job on ‘Tomorrow’s Another Day’ too. I couldn’t list all of them but there were so many great people involved, which was a real honour. It wouldn’t actually have been possible to make the album what it is without their parts.


The album demonstrates an impressive focus on hardware and on using only original material....

That’s actually something I’ve become more used to over the years from collecting more analogue equipment but it creates problems when it comes to saving a sound I’m using and not having any notes in MIDI. There were a few times where I needed to go back on a track I’d started a year before and replay something in, but I’d forgotten to note down the settings or even the chords meaning it would take time to match the sound again and figure out the notes I’d played. All in all though I find using those sounds makes everything sound much richer and warmer, and easier to mix. Analogue keyboards seem to have their own tone and stand out like a real instrument in a track, as opposed to VST [Virtual Studio Technology] instruments.

You’re continually flagged by house’s big dogs as one to watch – artists like DJ Spinna and, of course, Dave. Around a debut album with that title, is there huge pressure to deliver?

There’s definitely a bit of pressure with it being my first original album but I just try not to think about that – that’s distracting from what I’m trying to do. First and foremost I decided that I was making this project for myself, the listeners – the everyday Joe who enjoys listening to good music – and the dancefloor. I look up to Spinna, Dave and artists like MAW for their work, and their sound has really inspired what I do too. But I’m not doing this to impress anyone specifically. The way I see it is that it’s no different from what I was doing when I started out...just to make the best music I can for the people who enjoy it.

How would you describe the personality of your music?

Warm, groovy, deep, soulful, inspirational, catchy, uplifting...how’s that?


How’s the DJing going?

I started DJing when I was 14, and it was always more about set structure and programming to me. I used to make ‘pause and play’-style mixtapes on my stereo, then mixing came later on. DJing is something I really love and plays a big part in my productions. It also helps me to stay passionate about music in general and to get inspired. Set-up wise, today I’m bouncing between CDs and a USB drive using Pioneer’s Rekordbox. I really like the Rekordbox thing as I find it much easier to organise my music. The only problem is that not all clubs have decks with USB capabilities yet. Last weekend, though, I did a ‘classics’ gig playing vinyl, CDs and from the USB drive, and that was fun!

What else are you up to? What else is coming up?

Currently, I’m planning tours in South Africa and I’m working on some new projects with people like Nathan Adams, Blak Beatniks, Groove Assassin and Lilac Jeans. There’s also another remix for Elements Of Life [Louie Vega’s live orchestral project] on the way.

Longer term?

Honestly, I never make long-term plans. I just go with the flow and see what opportunities come my way. It’s always best to be open to musical adventures that may be unexpected. I have a few ideas for future endeavours but no solid plans....

Finally, give us your impression of the house scene in 2014:

I think there is definitely more average house music about and it’s become harder to find the good, different stuff with just about anyone being able to put out their own music. The business has changed, meaning there isn’t as much risk financially and less quality control on music. But in some ways it’s positive for people who are very talented that may not have had a chance to be heard before. Musically, things have changed. It’s much faster-paced - tracks come and go so quickly, and I feel there aren’t as many quality songs that will stand the test of time as regularly as there used to be. Albums offer that opportunity to an artist to create something special that has longevity and can showcase their sound in a more considered way than remixes or a single.

Words: Ben Lovett

Sean McCabe’s debut album It’s Time is out now on Z Records