Clean Bandit are going back to their classical roots.
The electronic music trio – which comprises Grace Chatto, Jack Patterson and Luke Patterson who started out in music with dance track ‘A+E’ back in 2012 – admitted that they “lost a bit” of their roots when they shifted away from classical music but are returning with an EP more true to their original style.
Cellist Grace said: “We like to make uplifting music and tender to gravitate towards dancier stuff but we are actually working on an EP of songs that aren’t dance music. When we got into pop we lost a bit of the classical side so it’s an eclectic mix of styles.
The 36-year-old musician – who is a founding member of the group and met the other members whilst a student at Cambridge University – explained that she and her bandmates felt a lot “freer” with the EP, which is due for release this year alongside their upcoming album.
Speaking to The Daily Star’s Wired column, she said: “It features other artists, a couple of American artists and then a couple of UK artists, we are really excited for it because it felt a lot freer than what we are working on for our next album, which also arrives later this year, if we can get our act together!”
The band are celebrating their 10th years since their debut in 2022 and Grace but quick to point out that the retreating to their original classical style was not part of any anniversary plans, insisting that it was more “natural” than that.
She said: “We didn’t deliberately do it for any anniversary, it naturally happened. Towards the end of last year, we made a remix of our last song ‘Drive’ , with some of our favourite UK rappers and that felt special because it was like going back to how we started which was to try to mix classical with house beats.”
The ‘Rockabye’ hitmakers released their latest single ‘Everything But You’ on Friday (18.02.2022) with AS7, which Grace described as “uplifting” but “sad.”
She said: “It’s uplifting but it kind of starts opposite, sad and about wanting to give up.”