Freaks - Psych (2014)

Freaks are on the cusp of releasing 'Psych' a long-awaited follow-up to 2003's heralded 'The Man Who Lived Underground'. The album is a much-awaited gathering of material from the late 00s onwards into one coherent form, from post-'Man Who' sessions right up to their singles featuring Robert Owens and Diz Washington, recently released on the likes of Hot Creations and Rebirth. It was the success of these recent singles that finally crystallised the idea for Luke Solomon and Justin Harris to release a new album. Parachuted into an era of Spotify and iTunes, the album as an entity may almost be a faded thing of the past, but to them Psych is "like the conclusion of something unique and special" between the two, the pair's chance to retire the long format on their terms, with a collection of tracks that highlight the strange alchemy of two of the UK scene's most enduring house music artists. Freaks are a musical partnership that's spanned twenty years and includes the Music For Freaks label, four albums, and an avalanche of singles across everywhere from Playhouse and Hot Creations to Crosstown Rebels, News and International Deejay Gigolos. It also spawned 'The Creeps', a single ensnared by the hype machine and consequently a worldwide smash which brought major pressure for an inevitable successor but only caused them to push back against the grain. The only way to retain sanity is to do what feels right, and whatever sales they forsook, Freaks retained what brought them together in that warehouse 20 years ago: a kindred spirit and a sense of their own destiny. In their own words 'the highs outweigh the lows, one hundred percent'. Bona fide electronic music acts that have had their music played on a John Peel session can probably be counted on one hand, and Freaks are exactly that, an unaffected survivor in a digital world that simply make music with personality.