Essential

"When we were approached to make an Essential Mix for the BBC in May 2017, we chose to do what every sane human being would do, we decided to lock ourselves into our studio for two weeks and make an hour of new music based around the word 'Essential', instead of preparing a mix of already existing music. The product of this otherwise unwise decision is something we ended up being very proud of and is now being released on the piece of plastic you're are currently holding in your hands."

Soulwax are the first artists to ever submit an entire hour's worth of original material for a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix. "It felt like a challenge," the band explain, "and

something no-one had done. We loved the challenge of releasing a full record live on a radio show without people having any advance notice, and we always wanted to release it on DEEWEE after it was aired on Radio 1" Recorded in just under two weeks at Soulwax's DEEWEE studio in Gent, Essential was created using the gear they didn't use for their celebrated 2017 LP From Deewee, which was recorded live with the band in one take.