Every musician needs to take action to keep themselves fresh from time to time, but James Ford and Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco have really gone to extremes this time. For the recording of their new record, Whorl, they've recorded everything entirely live, from scratch. As one of the UK's finest electronic duos, and individually as esteemed producers for other acts – James and Jas have accumulated mountains of incredible vintage synthesizers and other general sound-making boxes. Limiting themselves to two suitcase-sized boxes each – no laptops, no racks of hardware, just one synth and one sequencer each – they headed into the high desert in California and recorded Whorl in front of an audience. The result is something that takes you right into the heart of their creative processes, veering from completely abstract ambient explorations through buoyant repetitions that float into the territory of the most cosmic German synth explorers of the 70s and 80s. Says James, “Whorl can be taken as one long piece, because in the performance of it, we've gone where the processes we've set up have taken us.” And he's completely right – it's as a whole that Whorl comes to life and really opens up its secrets and surprises. It's true you should expect the unexpected from SMD, as they've created a system to ensure that it's precisely the only thing you can expect.

Simian Mobile Disco have been a major voice in the electronic music scene since their inception in 2005, with sales of over 100K worldwide of their breakthrough release Attack Decay Sustain Release.