After more than a year in the making, 2023 sees the launch of genre-blurring electronic duo Maritime Yacht Club, the creative brainchild of renowned UK tastemaker artist/Origins Rcrds label boss Josh Butler alongside longtime friend, talented singer/songwriter and fellow producer José Rosa – who co-wrote and provided the vocals for Josh’s iconic hit record ‘Got A Feeling’.
“This project has been a long time coming, and we are very proud to have accomplished this together,” says José. “We wanted to create a concept that was different to anything else out there. We felt combining vocal-led underground house and commercial sounds would create a unique and captivating result.”
Following their debut single ‘On My Own’, Josh Butler and José Rosa are back with another slice of vocal-led deepened electronic prowess with the next single from their forthcoming twelve-track debut album to be released under their Maritime Yacht Club project.
Their next single, ‘Change’, is another impressive exhibition of the duo’s creative capability, blending a plethora of immersive electronic influence and loosened grooves to carve out a silky deep house cut with endless layers of rich melodies and dreamy vocal injections.
Alongside the exclusive HMWL premiere of their latest release, we caught up with Josh and José for a deep-dive conversation about the project, their influences and plans for the future:
HMWL: How did you both become interested in making electronic dance music, and what inspired you to pursue it as a career?
MYC: We have both followed the same kind of influences growing up in towns so close to each other, but as we grew older, we started to get an interest in making music. We were mutual friends from just being in the scene in and around Liverpool and always worked on projects together over the years. Then we did ‘Got a feeling’ together, and it went from there.
Was there any specific impetus that fuelled the creation of this duo project, or was it something you had been planning for a while?
We have always had projects together over the years, but towards the end of the lockdown, its something we just felt needed a bit of focus. We had so much music we had worked on over the years we wanted to get finished, and it blossomed into MYC.
What sets Maritime Yacht Club apart from other genre-blurring acts?
For us, it feels like an extension of the sound we were part of in 2013, but 10 years of us maturing and developing our sound in the studio. The main thing is we have just been making what we feel is right at the time.
Can you describe your creative process when producing a track together, and what tools or techniques do you use to bring your ideas to life?
Every track we have made has been different; some of them have started out as riffs on a guitar or a vocal idea from a project over the years. In some of our sessions, we have just gone in and started playing around and bouncing off each other, and it’s gone from there.
Your tracks so far have a message or story behind them. What can you tell us about your latest release, ‘Change’?
Jose: I had a lot of change happen in my personal life after losing my wife, so musically, a lot of depth and emotion went into the track, and we wanted it to be a positive message but emotional in the music.
Can you share some examples of artists or tracks that have influenced you the most, and what specific elements of those works do you find particularly inspiring?
It’s hard because we both love music and have taken so much influence over the years from various genres and legendary acts like Basement Jaxx, Groove Armada or more recent influence from the likes of Maribou State, Rufus Du Sol but trying to stay true to our sound.
You have an album coming out later in 2023. What can we expect from your forthcoming debut Maritime Yacht Club LP?
Every track is different from the others, with a combination of real instruments, synths and various styles and genres. Each one has its own meaning to us, so we are looking forward to people being to hear it.
Can you describe any challenges or obstacles you’ve faced whilst working together and how you’ve overcome them?
Josh has been over in New Zealand for the last six months, so it’s been a lot of teams calls and emails, but we had got most of the projects done before then. It’s good to both be able to go to the studio again after a bit of a break now Josh’s back.
Finally, what are your plans for the future, and what other projects or collaborations can your fans look forward to in the coming months and years?
We have a couple of collaboration projects in the pipeline, which are still early days, but we have just got back working on a load of new music, so there is plenty still to come. We are hoping to start pulling together a live set for the future.
Maritime Yacht Club’s ‘Change’ is available now: https://snd.click/YACHT002
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