Nothing Is Still

Language available : english

Having come to prominence in 2013 thanks to two successful releases, Brothers and It's Just (House of Dupree), nostalgic house DJ/producer Leon Vynehall seems to have found a royal road to the top of the dance music circuit, where career progression normally follows a virtuous circle from producing club hits to prestigious bookings and back again – one normally requiring the other. But this Brit, based in the coastal resort of Brighton (where Fatboy Slim organised his monster beach parties), is in no hurry. For his first real solo album, he chose to go back in time by telling a very personal story, a story of his grandparents, who moved from the UK to New York in the 1960s. A record, but also a novel and a short film, Nothing Is Still tells the story of a week on a boat from Southampton to Brooklyn, from which Leon Vynehall collected souvenir photos from his grandmother. It started when my grandad passed away, I called him Pops, we all called him Pops, and as families do when a member dies everyone comes together and the first way to grieve is to start talking about them and exchange stories and reminisce. My nan started to talk about their time in New York... she pulled out this box of pictures and started telling stories." Anyone who's come looking for the next house hit is searching in vain. Nothing Is Still, written for a pianist, a saxophonist and a string orchestra, has nothing on it for the dancefloor, and it gives the impression of being a romantic soundtrack for a reimagined journey, written by a wistful grandson, between jazz ambiances and flights of violins. What's most beautiful here is surely the personal and artist method, and the fact that he has dared to this, where others would have brought out a more calculated record on a well-known label. “This record came together naturally, it was something that had to happen”, Leon Vynehall concludes. It’s a strong argument for going with the flow… © Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz