My Nu Leng talk Bristol, not being "restrained by genre", and their new imprint Wavelengths

Written by: Jack Wynne

Bristol-based duo My Nu Leng are back with a new single ‘1 Big Dark Room’ which marks the start of an exciting new project for the duo called Wavelengths. Fans will also be able to see the pair each month until the end of the year at their new residency, held at the unique Bristol nightclub, Thekla.

Festicket caught up with them to talk all about this exciting new chapter and discuss their journey so far. When asked about their previous record This Sound, My Nu Leng confessed how happy they were to involve their friends, Dread MC and Kaya, on the record:

“It’s been good,” they said. “We’ve been sitting on the tune for quite a while and have been testing it out in clubs since they reopened. "It kick-started our Wavelengths project and we’ve been lucky enough to get Kaya and Dread MC on the vocals for it. It’s a family affair which is nice.”

For as long as the pair have been working together they have always enlisted the help of Dread MC to be their frontman during shows however they had only worked together on a track once before, releasing 'Worldwide' back in 2020. Whilst it might seem strange they have only collaborated a couple of times on tracks, My Nu Leng admitted that it’s actually quite difficult to find the time to work with him:

“It’s quite hard to tie him down as he’s usually so busy releasing music all the time,” they commented. "We’ve got loads of unfinished ideas with him but the ones that we’ve put out we're really happy with."

Launching a new label can often be an exciting venture for artists and Wavelengths is no different for My Nu Leng. They had spent the past few years working on a whole bunch of different styles and found it hard to narrow down the list of prospective labels which they planned to send the music to. The solution to this was to set up their own imprint so that they could share all of it without being confined to a particular genre.

“It’s just a place for us to unload the music that we’ve got and not to be restrained by genre or style,” they added. “We’ve got so many different styles that we can’t wait for people to hear from us. In a lot of the scenes it is easy to get caught up and just roll with it and use the same presets. We want to keep the music as diverse as possible. This is just a really nice platform that we can elevate ourselves on.”

The duo - made up of Tommy Jackson and Jammo Irving - have long been known to write all kinds of music and anyone that has been to see them play will appreciate just how talented they are, being able to mix and produce numerous genres and make it look effortless. They now have two labels after the creation of Maraki Records, which they established alongside FineArt - Friction’s bass-driven alias, back in 2017. However the focus for the foreseeable future is going to be on Wavelengths and the pair explained just how much the type of music will differ on this new label.

“Maraki was just so club-focused, this new imprint will really help with our intention of being introduced into other worlds and showing that we’re also big fans of different styles. For us both who’ve been doing it for over ten years, we really like the thought of playing different shows, so this is what we’re also aiming to achieve with Wavelengths.”

Thekla - the home of their new residency in Bristol - has always held a special place in their hearts. Ten years ago they cut their teeth as performers with a residency at the same venue and so it was a no-brainer when deciding to go back there to mark this new chapter.

This monthly residency will see the pair, as they put it, come “full 360” and it is certainly going to be a special occasion for anyone that heads down to the Floating Harbour in the city. The duo can’t wait to see how much the crowds have changed compared with ten years ago but are even more excited to road test new music just like they did a decade ago with records like ‘The Grid’ and ‘Contact’.

Thekla is just one of many enchanting locations across the city where you can sample numerous flavours of music. Other notable mentions include the world-renowned Motion, Lakota, and The Black Swan.

When asked why Bristol is such a musical melting pot My Nu Leng confessed it is very much to do with the culture associated with the South West location:

“I think it’s to do with how so much has come from here,” they continued. “You look back to trip-hop and you’ve got Massive Attack and Portishead. Within drum & bass you’ve got DJ Die and Krust. It’s always been such a cultural hotspot for music. There are so many really cool spots. We were saying recently that if you want to go out and see a certain style of music you can probably find it in Bristol.”

In terms of what the future holds regarding Wavelengths the duo shared details of the next couple of releases which are set to land on the label: “We’ve got the next few releases all lined up and ready to go,” they added. "The next one coming up is like a ravey, techy, roller. After that we have drum & bass so it’s just about keeping every release a bit different from the last.”

They also spoke about the artwork which is centred around their beloved dogs: “Outside the music we’re both big dog lovers so the main theme for the artwork features our dogs,” they continued. "The first release is Tommy’s dog, Hugo and the second release is my dog, Stanley. Every release is going to include a dog link on the artwork whether that is someone in our team or someone we are releasing the music with."

My Nu Leng play at Hospitality Weekend In The Woods 2022 on 17th September. Head to our shop to book your tickets.