Includes focus track “Back There”
Recent support as Protection inc. NME, Clash Music, Mixmag, Beatportal, Chris Hawkins, BBC Radio 6 Music, RTE, CITR, Snack Mag
SEEDS II is out now on Saint Lucky Records.
Support on all platforms HERE
Protection, aka CHVRCHES’ Iain Cook and fellow respected Glasgow musician/producer Scott Paterson, drop their eagerly awaited 5-track EP SEEDS II, inc. focus track “Back There” (September 1st). Previous EP singles have won glowing support from tastemakers like Clash, Mixmag, BBC Radio 6 Music…
“Protection is all about having fun together exploring what our version of a known style – breakbeat, techno, house, DnB, UKG, from ambient to frantic, from 80s/90s onward – sounds like.”
Focus track “Back There”: crackling ‘radio’ SFX and an ethereal voice calling evokes nostalgia, while racing drums, synths with bags of paradoxical jittery gravitas and M/F vocal exchanges add layers to the guys’ signature chiaroscuro.
SEEDS II also delivers the other-worldly upbeat DnB “Thirst Shrine”, frantic drum-rich thrill ride “On Love” (feat. that well known vocal), moody, multi-textured “THX” and breaksy, big bass yet haunting “Something Real”.
Scott: “The only goal for the EP was to make tracks we’d like to hear in a mix and text each other ‘hey, listen to this!’ about. SEEDS II EP leans a little darker than SEEDS, but I like that juxtaposition of light and dark. There’s a dreaminess and psychedelia in all our tracks so far.” Iain: “SEEDS II is more introspective yet slightly more aggressive in places. A bit more musically confrontational. We just follow our instincts.”
Iain is still playing guitar/bass/keys with CHVRCHES, whose recent tour included their sensational Glastonbury set, while Scott, after playing with a variety of prestigious bands, has been producing/writing for other artists in his Glasgow studio, Sleepwalk.
Protection are yet to announce their first live gigs, meanwhile there’s SEEDS II to enjoy. “The only thing we pay attention to when we are writing is – Do we love this? Is this exciting to us?” (Iain)
Tracklist:
- Thirst Shine
- On Love
- THX
- Something Real
- Back There
For more information about Protection, go to:
Spotify | Instagram | YouTube | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Twitter
When I first heard Protection, I was hooked. To learn Iain is from CHVRCHES, I was over the moon. Having never heard SEEDS, I was eager to hear what SEEDS II sounded like.
This EP is full of dark melodic sounds that puts you in a state of transcendence. I picture myself sitting in a dark room sipping on a warm glass of whiskey while a candle burns out near the corner booth. The EP flows perfectly with “THX” setting the stage for “Something Real” and “Back There” to bring us home. Out now on Saint Lucky Records, I wanted to learn more about the EP and this project. I am listening to SEEDS II while I post this and I encourage you to do the same while reading this interview. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Iain Cook and Scott Paterson aka Protection.
How did you guys meet? And what inspired you to start producing music together?
Protection: We met back in 2006 or 2007, I’m not exactly sure but it was around that time. We had been aware of each other around Glasgow prior to that as we had many mutual music friends but just hadn’t quite made the connection until being introduced by our pal Campbell who used to play music with Iain.
So we’ve been friends for a very long time now. We bonded over shared interests in film and music and really, it’s crazy that we never made music together sooner but we’ve both been busy with our own projects over the years and touring and I guess the stars just didn’t really align until COVID hit and we found ourselves at home and in our studios with lots of free time to collaborate.
Just prior to starting Protection we’d been sharing music quite intensely and texting each other all the time with things we’d been enjoying, new tunes we’d been digging up. And we’d both been having a hard time finishing off work that we’d been individually writing on our own, it seemed like a natural thing to be like, “Hey, maybe we should try finally making some music together and I can help you finish ideas and you can do the same with me,” you know?
“THX” is the third single from SEEDS II. Tell me more about that release.
Scott: “THX” is maybe the darkest leaning of all of the tracks on the EP. It started from a little drum break sample chop I did on Iain’s Elektron Machinedrum that he loaned me. It’s a really fantastic drum machine that has a very unique, crunchy sort of sound to it and lots of people call it IDM in a box. It’s a lot of fun to play about with.
So I made a little chopped sequence with pitched snares in that and a little synth stab sequence to go along with it. I sent that basic idea to Iain and he built on it adding more synths, that spooky vocal chop and the amazing bassline in the break. It came together quite quickly to be honest, some tracks take a lot of back and forth, adding and subtracting things but this one was virtually finished after Iain’s pass if memory serves me right.
What does THX stand for?
Protection: Not sure if we’re even sure ourselves to be honest!
SEEDS II is out now, tell us a bit more about it.
SEEDS II is a five track EP. This one is a darker feel than the first EP with perhaps a bigger focus on bass. There’s a lot of Reese bass sort of sounds and big sound system sine waves on tracks like “Thirst Shrine”, it’s been a lot of fun to make.
Scott, what is an Elektron Machinedrum and how did that help you create “THX”?
Scott: It’s a drum machine, but you can use it as a sampler too and it’s got this great, crunchy, slightly vintage sampler sort of sound to it. It’s not that old, I think they were first released in the 00s but it’s already regarded as a classic piece of gear and for good reason. Love it!
Scott, tell me more about your Glasgow based studio, Sleepwalk.
Scott: I’ve been in there now since about 2018. The studio is primarily for me to work on my own music like Protection but I’ve also done a lot of co-writing and production with other artists over the years which has been incredibly satisfying and I’ve loved the variety of that. I love collaboration and I’ve been lucky to get to do lots of it in there the last five or six years.
All of the Protection stuff is done in our own individual studios. And we share whatever we write to the other person over a shared online drive. It started like that out of necessity as we began the project during lockdown but it’s ended up being a really fruitful way of working and I think we’ve both enjoyed the space it’s given us to be able to go away on our own without the pressure of the other person in the room. Sometimes when you’re writing with another person with you there’s a feeling, a pressure that you have to come up with an idea quickly and get it right in that moment so you can move on. And sometimes that way of working can be really good and yield fantastic results but doing it the way we do it now, it’s nice to have no pressure and get the chance to experiment and make mistakes on our own, spend 3 days on a track if we want just dreaming up things before sending it back to the other person. It’s a different sort of pace and encourages exploration and I’ve enjoyed that.
Are you guys doing live shows yet? Just throwing it out there, but it would be neat to see you open for CHVRCHES or something. Just an idea!
Protection: No live shows planned, no. Although we have sort of figured out a rough plan of how we’d make the tech side of that work if we did choose to do it eventually.
“Something Real” dropped August 18. Tell me about that single and the flow from one track to next on the new EP. Oh, and where did the name for the EP come from? I just love all this stuff, guys!
Scott: This track was one of Iain’s seed ideas. I remember him sending it through and listening to it in the car really loud and being knocked out. It was pretty well formed already and I’d say really not that dissimilar to the final track we have on the EP. I added some vocal processing and some additional synth things like the 303 type lead line. Sometimes with our collaboration it’s about knowing when not to over-add to or mess up the other person’s already brilliant first thought and I think this track is a good example of that.
“Treat Me Right” has such a great sound. I am having a hard time picking a favorite single here. Is it possible for you to pick a favorite song to listen to/perform? Also, when performing, are you playing the same sounds every time or does it change with the mood you’re in while performing?
Scott: Well, we haven’t really performed these tracks live at all yet. But my personal favourite from the EP is currently “Thirst Shrine”.
I love your sound. I love how every song progresses. It’s the type of stuff I just throw on, forget about, and zone out from everything. Not really a question, just sharing my admiration for your work.
Protection: Thank you, that’s great if it can serve that function and help you just zone out. I love it when music can do that for me too.
Where do you come up with ideas for new music? Do you sit down and start producing stuff, or do ideas/sounds just come to you in your sleep?
Protection: We each individually make little seed ideas to send to the other and the other person then will build some more ideas on top of that, maybe take away some elements, edit what was there, flesh it out, make it longer, add new parts. Then that gets sent back and the cycle goes on like that until we feel we have a finished track.
It’s a fun process, sometimes tracks can come together really quickly in just a few passes back and forth and then other times it takes many, many passes. It’s unpredictable how long any one tune will take from start to finish but it’s the unknown element and the surprise when you get a new pass back from the other person that makes it enjoyable and continually surprising, I think.
Who inspired you? You have such a niche sound, but I am curious what you are listening to.
Scott: We listen to so much music it’s hard to pinpoint specific references as I guess when you make music it’s the sum of the things that you love and you tend to make more of the sort of sounds that you want to hear out there in the world.
Speaking for myself, I love so much of the contemporary electronic music coming out of the UK. Producers and artists like Overmono, Joy Orbison, and Floating Points, of course Four Tet has been an inspiration in just how he’s always done his own thing and constantly evolved and grown with every album.
I also love the German producer Skee Mask, I think he’s making some of the most gorgeous sounding music coming out at the moment and his productions are just immaculate. I look forward to every new release of his like a kid waiting for Xmas.
We have an ever expanding playlist that we curate on Spotify called 0141-PROTECTION. It’s essentially like a giant mixtape of stuff we’ve been listening to or classics that we love. It’s a lot like all the tracks we would share on text to each other except with this we’re sharing it with everyone who follows the playlist. That’s honestly probably the best representation of what we’ve been enjoying.
I’d love to see you live. Any plans for a tour this fall/winter? There are some great venues in the Coachella Valley.
Scott: I love California and the West coast. Apart from touring the States I’ve done some memorable road trips with my wife out West. I find the desert so peaceful and would love to come back for a visit as it’s been too long. We’ll need to just wait and see what happens but a gig in the Coachella Valley would be hard to beat.
What’s next for Protection?
Protection: Well, we hope we can maybe get tracks together and make a SEEDS III. We’ll need to wait and see as we’re both quite busy outside of Protection. There’s also no rush and we don’t have any deadlines on ourselves so we can make things and take our time about it if we feel that’s what we want to do.
We’ve talked about a lot here. What are we missing? What else can you tell me about Protection?
Protection: We’re dog people! We love our dogs (and Iain’s little cat).
Thanks for doing this. I enjoyed that, guys. In all of the interviews I always give the artist the last word. Go.
Protection: Go follow our 0141-PROTECTION playlist on Spotify if you want to hear the stuff we’ve been digging. We try to keep it fresh and updated every couple of weeks. It’s like a giant mixtape you can just stick on shuffle. Maybe you’ll find your new favourite sound on it…
SEEDS II EP is out now on Saint Lucky Records. Get it here.
