Seamus Haji Interview

House heavyweight Seamus Haji locks horns with JunkDNA & Olic on this latest offering from the Big Love team.

Characteristically huge in production – “Aurora Lights” is a smooth and mildly euphoric Progressive House anthem that audibly lifts musical traits from each of the artists involved. All three names on the menu for this release are respected architects of big melodies and their collaborative efforts are just as exquisitely melodic as anticipated. You wont need more than 20 seconds of listening to “Aurora Lights” to understand why Tiesto, Thomas Gold, Kim Fai, Stonebridge, Danny Ramping and several other big gunners have been giving this release some serious backing over the last few weeks.

The main melody line bellows a memorable song that sings like an aural magnet calling for the Balearic season to begin. From start to finish the track is heaving with progressions and uplifting melodic sequences that have got us hungry for the summer to get started. As you might expect from such a talented trio – the production ethics are pristine and every single hi hat, riser and frequency is carefully constructed by a team who clearly take their House music seriously.

Big Love have carved a solid reputation as a headquarters for huge uplifting melodies that are designed to do nothing other than make people dance. With a clear ethos to deliver “songs” that can be played from start to finish without the need of a DJ to bring it to life – the Big Love camp are rapidly becoming the go-?to imprint for House that makes you feel good inside.

Every now and then a release comes along that gets you ready for the summer and we’ve not come across one that does this more so than Aurora Lights in 2013. If you’re a Prydz fan or indeed any of the artists on the line-?up – this one will go down a treat for you.

Matt Caldwell sat down with the man at the forefront of it all to get behind the scenes at Big Love.

Hey Seamus – firstly congratulations on the “Aurora Lights” release. How did the trio of you, JunkDNA and Olic happen?

JunkDNA got in touch with me and sent me the original demo, which I loved straight away. I said I’d love get involved with the track to give it some more dynamics. JunkDNA is in Tel Aviv & Olic is in Sydney so it was a real International hook up exchanging files online. It goes to show that some labels like us do actually listen to demos & submissions so to any up & coming producers out there -? take note.

Do you tend to approach a collaborative project differently?

I’ve done lots of collaborations in the past. With people like Steve Mac, ATFC, Timmy Vegas in the UK we’ve either been sat in the studio together or exchanged files online. Most recently I collaborated with Cevin Fisher, Romain Curtis, EDX & Kaskade and it was all done over the net. Working on stuff in our own studios & then firing files back & forth.

“Aurora Lights” got us well and truly ready for summer – what are your plans for the summer season?

We’ve just started a big mail out with Hyperactive to club DJs in the UK & an exclusive with Beatport. Our plans are to get the instrumental out there and we already have a few top line ideas to come back with a full vocal for the Summer and maybe a couple of new mixes.

Big Love is turning a lot of heads recently. Would it be fair to say you guys are making a point of releasing tracks that are “full songs” that don’t need to be in a set to be fully appreciated?

We’ve always been focused on songs or tracks with great hooks. We’d rather release something that sticks in your head (in a good way 🙂 than just another non descript “weekend track”.

Where are you at musically as a DJ/Producer right now?

I’ve been about house music but I like to be forward thinking so I take influences of what’s new & going on around me and inject that into what I do. I’m working on some deeper stuff at the moment as I’m enjoying the 90’s revival that’s going on at the moment. I’m still busy remixing major label artists and doing that still inspires me. Obviously some of the remixes I do are more commercial and for these mixes I always have club & radio in mind, which is why my stuff gets supported on the likes of Dance Anthems on Radio 1. With DJing, I still enjoy it but it’s more about quality over quantity for me. I have shows coming up in the UK & then Eastern Europe, Brazil and Australia -? so I get to play to different crowds, which is also very inspiring.

What about away from Dance music?

I’m actually getting more involved in writing & producing behind the scenes for other artists that are in the pop world. Hopefully I can make good use of my experience as a dance producer in a different way. So much in the charts is dance orientated these days so it makes sense.

Daft Punk album – excited?

Oh yeah! They’re the best at what they do. I wasn’t really into the previous album but now they’ve gone back to their roots collaborating with some legendary artists from the past & present -? it’s like a breath of fresh air.

What’s up next for you and for Big Love?

Once again it’s quality over quantity. I have a couple of singles in the pipeline. One is a deeper vocal project and the other is from an act we’ve worked with before and has a Brazilian vibe to it -? so it’s also ideal for Summer.

Are you on the lookout for new talent on the label? If so where can our readers hit you up?