Name: FOUK
Members: Daniël Leseman, Hans Peeman aka Junktion
Occupation: Producers, DJs
Nationality: Dutch
Current release: FOUK's new Sundays EP is out via Boogie Angst. It features collaborations with The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Archil & Leon, and 79.5.
Hometown recommendations:
Daniel: Utrecht: The canals are really beautiful and taking a boat trip through them is amazing and a really nice perspective of the city. There is a lot of history there that I find pretty inspiring. You can easily find beautiful quiet spots with lots of greenery you usually don’t expect in a big city. Especially in summer it’s one of my favourite things to do.
Hans: Den Bosch: De Tramkade, a very cool spot for good parties in the city. Also the St. Jan cathedral and city centre with its canals and medieval vibes. It’s a fairly small city compared to Utrecht with lots of nature surrounding it. Taking a walk in Het Bossche Broek (which is like a 5/10 minute walk from the centre) is amazing, being outside in nature is very good for the soul.

If you enjoyed this FOUK interview and would like to stay up to date with the duo and their music, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and bandcamp. Their label Outplay also has a bandcamp page.

For a deeper dive, read our earlier FOUK interview.



What were some of your earliest collaborations? How do you look back on them with hindsight?  

Justin Jay got in touch with us about doing a remix of Thumpasaurus’ “Dance Like It’s Your Life” for his label Fantastic Voyage. That was around 2018/2019 we think? They’re a really cool punk/electro/funk/rock band from LA.



At the same time we were working on our new EP for The House Of Disco. So next to the remix we made we also collaborated on our title track “Release The Kraken” for HOD.  



We really love the quirkiness, the energy and drama in their vocals. It fits the track perfectly. It was very easy to work with them, and because of the distance we communicated online.

Daniel later met Henry & Lucas from Thumpasaurus and Justin Jay during a US tour. It’s always great to see each other in person :)

There are many potential models for collaboration, from live performances and jamming/producing in the same room together up to file sharing. Which of these do you prefer – and why?  

Jamming together in person is always the most fun, but it’s not always possible unfortunately. Then again stepping away and creating on a project in your own bubble separately can be very beneficial as well.

Sometimes when creating together in a different studio from your own you can get stuck or doesn’t fully come to fruition. We’ve had that happen before, and retreating to your own safe bubble can be a good second step.

So there’s something to be said for both.

How did the collaborations on the Sundays EP come about?

We first wrote the instrumental demos and we realised they needed a good vocalist.

Our collaborations on Sundays EP came together through Wim from Boogie Angst. We knew and really liked the music of The Phenomenal Handclap Band, 79.5 and Archil & Leon before, and Wim has been essential in getting us together on this project.

We went into the collabs with an open mind, as were very open to input from them if they felt like adding or changing something to our instrumentals next to the vocals.
 
What do you generally look for in a collaborator and what made you want to collaborate with each other specifically?

Shared vibes in our music that fits a creative vision you have. Certain sonic qualities that resonate with us.

It’s hard to describe as it’s very much an emotional decision next to it being a purely analytical one.

Before you started making music together, did you in any form exchange concrete ideas, goals, or strategies? Generally speaking, what are your preferences when it comes to planning vs spontaneity in a collaboration?

The instrumentals were already created before starting the collaboration. So that in itself is a framework in which you can create.

We pretty much got in touch with the collaborators with their sound in mind, so we already had an idea in which direction the project could take. The keyword is “could”, because we didn’t give them any directions from our side at first, so in that way it’s very spontaneous.

Describe the process of working on the EP, please. What was different from your expectations and what did the other add to the music?

The Phenomenal Handclap Band recorded their vocals and some additional percussion and synths/fx.

They stripped back our instrumental which was quite cool but we missed some of the funky synths we had in our demo version. So then you go and spar a bit and we loved the end result!



When we received the vocal parts that 79.5 recorded for "Reverie," we were inspired to write an additional part in which the song takes off with an extra layer in energy with a change in bass to break it up a bit. Which you can hear at 3:17 in the song.



Also we tweaked and expanded the chords to fit with the vocals better harmoniously and to give it more depth.

Archil & Leon came back to us with their first version, they recorded their vocals and played the springophone. They changed the arrangement quite a bit, which was very cool idea. You get to listen to your own song in a different light. It opened up some very good ideas for the arrangement.



But we felt the structure of the song was changed a bit too much, so then we worked on the arrangement again together with their parts.

They recorded an extra verse and extra vocals by a female singer (Sego) for the chorus, which was the perfect addition. And then we sent our tweaks and ideas to each other until we got to the end result. It was very cool to see the song come to life after each step in the process.

Is there a piece which shows the different aspects you each contributed to the process particularly clearly?

On “Reverie” it’s the most clear cut, we guess. Kate & Lola from 79.5 wrote the lyrics and sang and recorded the vocals and we wrote the instrumental.

What tend to be the best collaborations in your opinion – those with artists you have a lot in common with or those where you have more differences? What happens when another musician take you outside of your comfort zone?

For us personally, the way we are as artists, the best result comes from having a lot in common. The instinctive click and vibe you have is quite instrumental for our inspiration.

Being outside your comfort zone can be beneficial, for sure, because it can make you grow as an artist. But for the sake of having little studio time (because that’s the case usually), a harmonious connection works best for us.

Decisions between creatives often work without words. How did this process work in this case?

When you collaborate through the internet you cannot escape using words haha. The difficulty in this was finding the right words to describe what you feel and think.

Experiencing music for us is a combination of heart and ratio. As a duo when we create together in our studio, we often don’t use words because we are very in sync after working together for so many years.

What are your thoughts on the need for compromise vs standing by one's convictions? How did you resolve potential disagreements in this collaboration?

Both things have their uses/merits in the creative process. It’s good not to give up on your ideas too quickly. But for the sake of not stalling a project it’s good to kill your darlings.

But it might take a few choice words first though haha.

Were these collaboration fun – do they need to be?

Yes! For us it being fun is essential.

Maybe it’s the kind of music that we make.

In our way of working, having fun is the base on which everything we make is founded. Is it worth doing if it’s not fun?

Of course there are parts of collaboration which aren’t fun in essence, but the creation of the music itself should be fun for a significant part. It’s what we love to do!

Do you find that thanks to this collaboration, you changed certain parts of your process or your outlook on certain creative aspects?

Definitely, since these three songs were even more song based in structure and approach than the club focused music we usually make.

We absolutely loved this direction of making music, so we’re inspired to make more like this. Or write/produce music for others as well.