For our bicentennial Truancy Volume, Pearson Sound takes the reins. Few artists have meant so much to us over the years, and David Kennedy’s music, DJ sets and mixes have been an instrumental pillar to our foundation at Truants. Under his early moniker Ramadanman, he was responsible for timeless dancefloor anthems like “Work Them“, “Glut” and “Don’t Change For Me“, with his gradual transition into Pearson leaving a hotbed of tracks behind in his discography, as well as a much lauded mix for the FabricLive series. His evolution from Ramadanman days to the Pearson Sound we now celebrate is inextricably linked to the transformation of electronic music this decade, bringing techno, breaks, dubstep, house and UK funky into a singular, amorphous arena. Responsible for many of our favourite 12″s, the last ten years has been filled with a page list of memorable club moments and releases.

Whilst Pearson Sound’s back catalog undoubtedly brings unforgettable club bangers to mind such as “Untitled”, his recent work incorporates more melancholic and scenic atmospheres, perfectly highlighted in his latest release, Robin Chasing Butterflies. As for his solo efforts, David has busied himself recently with quiet studio work for others, doing mixing and the odd bit of additional production for other artists: “I enjoy it as it’s a very different process from making my own tracks. But for the next couple of months I’m hoping to focus again on my own music and get together a new bunch of tracks. I’ve got a couple finished but still lots of ideas to fully flesh out. I think I’d like to work on a longer project again rather than a single.”

Founded by Pearson Sound, Ben UFO and Pangaea, Hessle Audio‘s run in the game reached ten years in 2017 with new talent such as Ploy, Batu and Bruce peppering the label’s recent releases. Previous Truancy Volume mixers Call Super and Beatrice Dillon also teamed up for a collaborative release on the label, following a back-and-forth process that ultimately led to the 31st 12″ on Hessle since 2007.  It’s a success David credits to them always having stuck to their guns and gut instincts: “It’s a bit surreal in a way as we started it when we were pretty young, I feel like I’ve been growing up along side the label itself. It was really nice last year to have a strong run of singles and be a bit more active again. I think this year having so many nice comments has been very memorable. When people tell you how much the label means to them or how big a fan they are, or start talking to you about a really obscure B2 on one of the early releases, that’s always special!”

Pearson Sound’s Truancy Volume features the likes of Burnt Friedman, Or:La, Ben Vince, Parris, Superficie and a few new Hessle Audio tracks. Describing the mix, David explains, “I wanted to keep the music fresh mainly, and not put too many older bits in there. Also I decided that I wanted it to be quite clubby, and definitely on the more dancefloor side of things! And also representing some of our crew too and what they’re up to,” Even though this one comes sans-tracklist, he did shed some light on one track from the mix for us – “Trinity” by Ben Vince. “Only heard about his music in the second half of last year, but have become a big fan. He’s a saxophone player who does lots of processing and puts it through FX etcetera. Check his EP called Monuments which has this track on. Hoping to see him play live when he’s next in town.” Stream and download Pearson Sound’s Truancy Volume below.

Photo by Sophia Spring