Rework have always thrived in the space between tension and release, warmth and detachment. Across their catalog, the German trio have built a distinctive sound that fuses stripped-back house grooves with post-punk cool, eschewing easy nostalgia for something sharper, more skeletal. Their latest EP, Disco Love, takes that contrast further—reframing the ecstatic energy of disco through a colder, more mechanical lens.

Rather than indulging in full-bodied throwback euphoria, Disco Love distills its influences to their raw essence. Echoes of early acid house, electro-disco, and Italo futurism weave through the record, but always with Rework’s signature restraint.

In this interview, Rework break down the ideas behind Disco Love, discussing their relationship with dancefloor nostalgia, the influence of early Chicago house and European electro, and why stripping disco down to its barest components can sometimes reveal its deepest essence.

Disco has always been a foundation for house music, but its influence has surfaced in different ways over the decades. ‘Disco Love’ taps into that lineage but filters it through a colder, more minimal lens. What drew you to that contrast, and how did you approach the balance between groove and detachment?

That contrast is what keeps things interesting for us. Disco is all about warmth, movement, and human energy, but stripping it down exposes a different kind of tension. We wanted to keep the groove alive but with a sense of distance—like hearing a party through a wall or watching it from outside in the cold, thats why you can find us sometimes in the corner of a club just concentrating on the sound and music. It’s the push and pull between nostalgia and modern detachment, between the disco euphoria and the stark pulse of a basement club.

Your music has never been about obvious nostalgia, but ‘Disco Love’ carries echoes of early acid house and electro-disco without feeling like a throwback. Were there specific records, artists, or club experiences that shaped the sound of this EP?

Definitely. There’s always been a bit of that raw acid energy in our sound, but here we were channeling the hypnotic repetition of early Chicago house, Maybe there are some remains from Daniels first steps into club music from the 90s, when he was releasing pure techno trance acid tracks on Harthouse and F-Communications. The mechanical funk of Kraftwerk, and the icy elegance of early Italo. And of course, Breakdance jams where electro beats met pure groove—those moments when rhythm took over completely. And yesterday I was lucky to find a Giorgio Moroder Album for 5 EUR on the flea market, who is also a big influence to our music.

Disco and house have historically been built on warmth—organic basslines, loose swing, human touch. Your approach often strips things down to something more skeletal and mechanical. Do you think that deconstruction reveals something new about the DNA of those genres?

Absolutely. When you take away the obvious warmth, what’s left? The pulse, the tension, the hypnotic drive. Sometimes less is more—it forces you to feel the space between the notes. Stripping it down highlights the pure rhythm and energy at the core of these sounds. It’s not about removing the soul; it’s about exposing it in a different way. We like to play with a kind of grey feeling and deliver a more realistic view on our lives with our tracks, sometimes to pessimistic maybe. And for sure Germany is not so famous in producing music with soul, we kind of prefer a cold and mechanical feel.

The European interpretation of disco has often been more synthetic, from the arpeggiated futurism of Italo to the sharper edges of electroclash. Do you see ‘Disco Love’ as fitting into that tradition, or do you view it through a different lens?

It definitely taps into that lineage, but it’s not just a continuation. Italo and electroclash had a playful excess, while ‘Disco Love’ leans into something more distant and controlled. It’s synthetic, but in a way that feels like a memory rather than a neon flash. It’s more like disco seen through VHS static—familiar but distorted, looping endlessly in the background. Yes and we start to feel more close to Italo Disco.

Your work has always been rooted in dancefloor functionality, but tracks like ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’ seem to operate in a more cinematic space, stretching tension across time rather than hitting with immediate release. Do you think about storytelling when constructing a track, or is it more about instinct and flow?

It’s definitely more instinct and flow, we are not Morrissey or Dylan with great poetic verses and a great story behind the lyrics. Even if we love the stories but in club music they can’t be told. “You keep me hanging on” just comes to our mind reflecting some private stories and we found a way to pack it in our track. Think you can feel this on the dancefloor, letting it breathe, and pulling the listener into a space rather than just hitting them with a drop. That kind of controlled release is what we play with in this track. We also wanted to recreate our old Playhouse vibe in quickly producing a track with not more than 10 samples.

There’s always been a strong visual and aesthetic component to disco, house, and electronic music in general. Do you think of your music in visual terms? If ‘Disco Love’ were a scene from a film, what would it look like?

Yes ‘Disco Love’ would be a late-night drive through an empty city, neon reflections in the rain, a roller rink after hours with the disco ball still spinning. It’s that mix of distance and movement—something pulsing in the background, never fully in focus, but still pulling you in. Out of a move scene it could be the aerobic scene in “The Substance” that transforms on a dancefloor and mixed with people from the nightlife. We planned to shoot a video for “Disco Love” with cheerleaders for this track, but can’t find a budget. So you all have to wait for this short movie. Yes we always have visual ideas for our music but most times to difficult to realize and bring them to life.

Your catalog spans labels that have each had a hand in shaping modern electronic music, from Playhouse’s deep house experimentalism to Get Physical’s club-forward focus. Do you see ‘Disco Love’ as a continuation of those influences, or do you feel like this EP is stepping into new territory?

There’s definitely a connection to those influences, but this feels like a step into something new. It’s more stripped, more refined, more controlled. Every release is part of a bigger evolution, and this one is about distilling our sound into something even more focused—taking the history of disco and house and running it through a different kind of filter. But we always like to come closer to our first releases on Playhouse., it feels we are traveling more and more into our rework past with some new elements.

Disco has been through countless reinventions, from its underground roots to mainstream excess, from house’s reworking of its elements to its resurgence in contemporary club music. Where do you see your own place in that evolution, and do you think ‘Disco Love’ speaks to a particular moment in that ongoing cycle?

We see ‘Disco Love’ as a reflection of where we are now—looking back at the past but through a different lens, filtering it through modern minimalism. It’s not about nostalgia, but about taking those elements and reshaping them into something that fits the present moment. The cycle keeps turning, but each generation finds its own way to bend the groove.

Rework – Disco Love is out 07 March on exlove records