Simian mobile disco biography channel 7

Simian Mobile Disco have quietly had one of the most interesting careers in contemporary dance music. Since meeting in Manchester almost twenty years ago, the duo of Jas Shaw and James Ford have found themselves everywhere from Berghain to the Billboard charts, and have put out engrossing, evocative electronic music that is as approachable as it is unconventional—all while almost willfully reinventing themselves at every turn.

The duo have always seemed one step ahead of the curve they set for themselves, and in joyously fumbling towards the future, have amassed a body of work that will be looked back upon as a definitive commentary on this whole era.

Simian mobile disco - attack decay sustain release

Jas Shaw: I met James in Manchester. Me and Alex, the bassist in Simian, we went up there with the intention of forming a band. We put up an advert, James answered it. He lied, actually. He said he was a drummer. We came from a band background, but wanted to do more electronic stuff. We were starting go out out, like, proper clubbing, and all that.

Simian band

We had done loads of recording, but, it was just experiments. When we met Simon, we became more of a band. He came with songs. We went from making weird experiments all day to blasting out songs. Simon was a singer-songwriter, but we were listening to Autechre and early Warp stuff.