You would probably be labelled as ‘outspoken’ as an artist, but you don’t kid yourself that DJs discoursing on Twitter is part of some grand political movement, and you’re quite wary of the conflation of an artist’s sense of self and their public persona. In an interview during Ljubljana Pride you noted it’s “quite dangerous to treat artists as the best thinkers of our times” and to “dilute politics with celebrity culture”. Do you think the swirling chaos that is the discourse around dance music can be made productive?

I don't think it's that helpful honestly. I think everyone should just pull their head out of their ass and recognise that we are in a tiny, niche scene. It may not feel like it. I understand that we have celebrity DJs and that might seem huge, but in the wider scheme of things we are really niche artists and I think being self-obsessed about our scene and ourselves is quite an ignorant and unproductive way to be.

What I do think has been helpful is the fact that, for example, we now have Safer Spaces policies on club walls. It's not enough to stop harassment but maybe it does help dancers feel safe. I have found the courage to have people kicked out of clubs by the bouncer because clubs say on the wall that they treat any kind of harassment seriously. Whereas before, I remember going out dancing way before I started producing, being groped, and leaving the club in tears because I didn't think it would go anywhere.

You've gotten involved in discussions that other people aren't willing to. Straight, white and male are three of the highest privileges in the West and are often rightfully cited as such. You fall into none of the above, but haven’t shied away from talking about your own class privilege and how beneficial that has been for your work in music. Do you think there are important conversations in dance music that are being overlooked in the main currently?

People are so uncomfortable talking about class. That's really struck me. It's good that we're talking about sexism and racism now - although we still have a long way to go - but I don't think we've even started on class. It feels like people think it's uncouth to talk about money, and yeah it is, but while talking about class I always link to this article by a writer called Anne Bauer. She writes about how her writing is basically sponsored by her husband who has a good job and makes her coffee when she starts writing at 7am. She says she knows this because she used to be married to a drug addict, had no money, raised three kids by herself, and during that time produced zero amount of writing.

People harp on about how ‘pain is essential to and makes interesting art’, and I kind of get this suspicion that people like to harp on that adage because that way they can protect their bourgeois status. Thinking: 'You know what, I got very far, and you're still there, because I'm just simply more talented than you/I'm extraordinary/my work is seminal', and not wanting to consider that the fact that, maybe I got here partly to do with my talent, but also because I had money which buys time when you can write music. Because if poorer musicians and artists knew that, they might think you're not as extraordinary as you like to think, or they might think 'this is really unfair, we should revolt'.

I became a communist long before I started making music. People say 'now that somebody's an artist they think they're suddenly so interesting, and have important things to say, and think they have influence'. But that's not why I'm outspoken. I always have been. I've been in leftist groups since way before I started making music. It would just be dishonest to shut that side of me up just because I make music now.

You've spoken about how you don’t think your music in itself conveys political messages, and tend to talk about it in quite emotional and physical terms. One quote in your tinyletter is: “what's happening today is that I am painstakingly and joyfully laying down this dear track of mine. and I feel like a thirsty plant being fed for the first time in days”. Is making music catharsis for you? Or a more intense drive?

It's intense and it is cathartic. It's something I really, really have to do. It as natural for me as eating or drinking a glass of water. If I don't write music I start to feel incomplete and like an inferior version of myself. I'm most at myself when I'm making, playing or listening to music. If I didn't find any success as an artist then I'd probably just be starving on the street, working temp jobs, badly.

It is an emotional experience but I don't tend to use music as a vehicle to convey emotions, just like how I don't use music to convey political thought. The only exception is my next release - more details soon!

How did you approach your Impact mix?

I started at 140 because I've really been feeling 140 recently. The mix is very reflective of my current DJ sets: playing spooky half-time tracks at a high tempo with lots of cheeky melodic elements. it's the kind of sound and rush you can only get at late night on massive systems!