Kahn doesn't need introducing to anyone who has been paying attention to UK sound system music over the last decade and a half. From his first release on DEEP MEDi in 2012 to his work alongside Neek and Bandulu Records, he has been a consistent presence at the forefront of the music, pushing it forward on stages across the world while maintaining the integrity that made him important in the first place.

Which makes it all the more striking that Past Life, out today on DEEP MEDi, is his debut solo album. Over a decade of singles, EPs and collaborative work, and this is the first time Kahn has brought a full body of work together under one roof. It was worth the wait. Past Life is atmospheric, deliberate and at times genuinely unsettling in the best possible way. It sounds like someone who has taken their time, because he has.

Strats has known Kahn for years, sharing stages across the UK and Europe as far afield as Kazakhstan. In this interview they get into the album, the years of relentless touring that nearly cost Kahn his relationship with making music altogether, the pandemic that gave him back the space to finish things he had started, what it felt like to finally commit to an album format, the move away from Bristol to the North West, and what it means to still be building after all this time.

Kahn - Past Life. The new album on DEEP MEDi

The Project

How long has this body of work been coming together?

Quite a while, to be fair! I wrote the initial, rough ideas for most of the tracks that ended up on the record quite a few years ago now. To be honest, earlier on in my career I never seriously considered writing a Kahn album. It wasn't something I had ever planned on eventually doing or felt like I was working towards. It just didn't feel like a particularly relevant format for the type of music I was writing at the time, which I felt was much more suited to single and EP formats.

I think it was during the covid pandemic that my perspective shifted. As we know, all of our lives came to a complete standstill and for me personally it was the first time in years where I hadn't had to think about being anywhere else except in my studio. I'd been very blessed over the preceding decade to be able to tour all over the world and be out on the road most of the time. It had been a great experience overall and not something I'd ever take for granted. But I had to accept that, over the years, it had taken quite a noticeable toll on my creative output.

I'm sure this was the case for a lot of people but being forced to stop everything I was doing, as difficult and troubling as it was at first, gave me a lot of time for introspection and allowed for a period of consistent uninterrupted focus that I don't think I'd ever had before. I found that I had the time and patience to go back and piece together a lot of fractured ideas I'd started and in doing so realised that I now wanted to present the music I'd been writing as larger bodies of work.

What kind of headspace were you in while making it?

Once I'd realised I wanted to present this music as a collated body of work as opposed to just singles or EPs, I then felt like I needed to justify to myself calling it an album. I didn't want it to essentially just be a compilation of disparate tracks I'd made. The task was to find an atmosphere, a sonic thread that could tie the tracks together whilst still presenting as wide a breadth of contrasting ideas as I felt possible within the context of the music I was making.

It was an enjoyable part of the process for me, listening through all the raw musical ideas I'd written, often years apart from each other, and discovering the commonality between them and how they complemented each other. Allowing the overarching tone and feel of what the record would eventually become to reveal itself.

Journey

DEEP MEDi must be one of the most respected labels out there. How did the connection first come about?

Whichever way you cut it, DEEP MEDi has been such an integral record label for sound system music in the last two decades. It's difficult to fully quantify its influence and the crucial role it's played in providing both a centralised home for, at this point, multiple generations of artists working in sound system music and in introducing a global audience to the culture at large. I know that for a lot of people, especially outside the UK, it's the first point of contact they've had with this whole scene.

I'd obviously followed and been heavily influenced by the music DEEP MEDi was releasing in the early years, back when I was first establishing myself as an artist. I released my first single with the label, Dread / Late Night Blues, back in 2012 after Mala heard some of my other tracks doing the rounds in the underground at the time and reached out to do a record together. I remember feeling so honoured to contribute in my own small way to the lineage of this imprint I'd been following for years, and it makes me happy that this many years later we're still working together.

In a modern music industry where so much is transitory and uninterested in tradition, I personally find it really grounding as both a listener and a contributor to have record labels like Deep Medi as a consistent presence in the cultural landscape.

It's been amazing to hear the progression from your first Medi release to this one. Is that something you feel as an artist, or do you just take it one song at a time?

Yeah it's nice to acknowledge the growth over time for sure, though I like to think there's still enough of the old me in there sonically. That's actually the reason I eventually arrived at calling the album Past Life. It felt like it had been such a long time since I'd released anything that felt aligned with that sound I was exploring back in the early days of the Kahn project, and whilst I naturally wanted to bring something contemporary to the table with this record it was nice to allow myself to fall back into that older version of my musical identity. My past life, if you like.

Sound

If I had to describe this release in one word it would be sinister. Where does that come from?

That's interesting you felt that! I think there are certainly some parts of the record that I made intentionally more sinister, or unnerving perhaps. When I first set out compiling the tracks for the album from the various raw ideas I had, one key aspect I knew I wanted to explore and instil within the sound of the record was a sense of unease, melancholia.. almost an anxiousness. Whilst at the same time, none of those things exactly. It's a feeling I find hard to describe in words actually, but it's a sensation I'd felt so keenly when I first heard certain tracks in the early dubstep scene. The sullen, brooding atmosphere of it all, when it was at its best.

Tracks that come to mind when I think about that sensation are things like Kingstown by Kode 9, Pop Pop Epic by Mala and Pinch's remix of V by Distance. Unapologetically moody.

The whole release is cold but I especially rate Giallo .. is that a live bass on there? Do you play any instruments?

Well spotted! Yeah I've played a variety of instruments since I was a kid. I played the bass guitar on Giallo and that's also me playing electric guitar on Jouhatsu too. I tried to write as much of the digital instrumentation and melodic motifs on the record as I could rather than sample everything. All the string, woodwind and various synth arrangements for example. It's certainly been useful over the years having at least a basic grasp of music theory when writing my own music, even if I don't always record live instruments in every track I make.

Neek, Boofy, Hi5Ghost, Kahn, Commodo - Bandulu Gang

Bristol

I have a memory of playing a set in Cosies a few years back and I've got a photo with you, Boofy, Neek, Randall and a few more. Amazing memories. Do you think Bristol is a supportive city in general? It was only a small venue but that was a proper turn out and it meant a lot for you guys to come through.

Yeah I think I remember that night man, that must have been years ago now! Cosies is such a great old haunt of mine, it's actually where me and Neek first properly met when we were teenagers!

Bristol has a very strong community I would say and it's been great in recent years to see how much cross pollination there's been going on musically. Both literally and metaphorically. I've always felt like you've got to have the punk kids in the roots dances and vice versa, you know?

There's so much we can all learn from each other and it stops things getting so insular and mind numbingly self-referential.

Strategy, Kahn, Randall, Boofy, Neek, If Khan - Cosies, Bristol

Now

Without giving too much away, you moved up north a while back (congratulations) .. was any of this music made up there? Has the move affected your production at all?

Yeah I've loved being up in the North West. I moved out of Bristol a few years back to be with my partner who had a job in Manchester at the time, and since then we've moved to Liverpool and I love it. Half my family are from Liverpool originally or still live here, so it's been a really great experience reconnecting properly with the city. There's a great community here and I wish there was more cross-pollination between the North West and Bristol in general to be honest. It's something I want to work on if I can.

And yeah I did a bunch of work on the record in Liverpool, I actually completed the album up here. It's been nice working in a new environment, having been based in Bristol for so long.

You don't seem to be on the road as much these days. Is that a purposeful move? I remember you saying touring can take a hit on recording. Can we expect more music following this release?

I usually only ever chat about this side of the industry with other people who have actually had some experience in it, like yourself, as I just don't think a lot of people outside of the touring life want to hear it. They think you're whinging or being ungrateful. But this is mine, and I'd wager a lot of other folks who've been on the road a long time's, lived experience, so I'll speak on it briefly.

Yeah it's true I'm not on the road quite as much as I used to be. I'd say it's half intentional, half circumstantial but honestly, with where I'm at in my life now, I know it's for the best. Whether on the road solo or with Neek, we'd been really burning the candle at both ends all through the 2010s, saying yes to pretty much every gig wherever it was in the world as you never knew when the bookings might dry up, touring on often really punishing schedules for years with very little regard for our physical and mental health. Don't get me wrong, we had and continue to have some amazing times on the road, but honestly mate by the time the covid pandemic hit in 2020 I was incredibly close to complete psychological burnout and was seriously considering stepping away from the industry altogether.

I also found it incredibly challenging to be creative and productive when I was in that headspace so naturally my musical output really suffered. I'm happy to say I've been writing a lot more music in recent times though, so you can expect a lot more from me still to come.

Maybe you feel the same way too, but it seems like since the pandemic lifted the scene just hasn't really recovered as much as we all hoped it would. Then when you throw in the long term effects of Brexit and the cost of living crisis causing havoc for everyone internationally, it's no wonder the nightclub and events ecosystem has suffered so heavily and there are now fewer gig opportunities. There just aren't as many folks with the expendable income to keep it all rolling along like it used to, be it promoters, artists, venue operators or audience members alike.

Personal

What are your memories of our trip to Kazakhstan together? That was definitely somewhere I never expected to end up but it was a mad experience. How did that rank for you in terms of places you've played? Have you been anywhere else that felt that far out?

That was so great wasn't it, big love to all the folks we met in Almaty! It was great to share the experience with you too mate. I don't think either of us knew what to expect but I loved it. As well as the show, which was wicked, getting to visit the incredible Ascension Cathedral in Almaty and being lucky enough to hear some gorgeous choral music as part of a service that was taking place when I happened to walk in was definitely up there as one of my favourite experiences on the road.

Off the top of my head I'd have to say playing in Beirut was one of my other favourite experiences on the road, for the same reason you mentioned, that I just never thought my music would give me the opportunity to travel there. I remember at the time a lot of artists were a bit too shook to go to Lebanon, understandably to some extent, but it was a country I always wanted to visit as I love their music and food culture especially. I met some amazing people and it was just such a vibe being there. I'd love to go back one day.

I saw Neek recently got married and someone played a Flowdan dub for the first dance. How was it seeing your long-time friend and collaborator tying the knot?

Yeah that was me playing it! I asked Flowdan if he'd make a dub for the wedding party as I knew they'd love it, which he very graciously did. He's a good lad like that. Ah it was a great party though,

I'm so happy for them. I got engaged at the start of the year too, we're all growing up mate! Very happy days ahead!

We both share Irish heritage. Have you seen the basic income for arts scheme over there? Do you think that's something we should be looking at in England?

I've heard about it yeah. I think in general it's a great idea and absolutely a step in the right direction, though I would want to see governments going even further and implementing a universal basic income for all citizens ideally. That said I of course appreciate that people specifically seeking to work in the arts, especially those from low income backgrounds, need and should be entitled to more specialised support aside from just a universal basic income. I'm not surprised Ireland is one of the first places to implement this kind of scheme though, as from what I understand wider Irish society generally holds their artists in high regard and acknowledges the benefit it brings to their culture.

We know that here in the UK the arts is generally completely taken for granted and to pursue a creative career is seen as frivolous by most of society, despite the cultural cachet it affords the country on the international stage and the creative industries generating billions for the economy.

There's an assumption that art will just appear magically and always exist for the rest of the population to benefit from, regardless of whether there's any tangible financial support available to the people actually providing it. And hey, that may well be the case if the only artists we're interested in platforming are from the kind of privileged backgrounds and living situations that can afford to work in it.

The greatest resource people have when trying to make art, let alone pursue it as a career, is time. I know this to be true because I've been a beneficiary of it. People who are in a situation where they can't make ends meet financially don't have the time to dedicate the necessary hours into honing their craft and pursuing their creative ambitions. If our government were to provide even just a basic stipend so that artists can allocate more of their time into creating work, it will demonstrably benefit wider society on multiple social and economic levels.

Ultimately it's up to the people of every nation to decide what kind of society they want, and whether or not the creative arts are of any value to their culture. If they are, support them properly.

Longevity

You've been doing this at a high level for a long time now. What keeps you motivated?

There's still so much to do! As I've touched on multiple times in the interview, I spent years struggling to finish projects because I was away on the road all the time. As the rhythm of my life has changed over the last few years I've been writing so much more music. I feel like I've still got a lot of ground I want to cover and that keeps me moving forward.

What do you get up to when you aren't making music?

I try to spend as much time as I can with my family and friends. I think it's important as we all get older and start splintering off into our own busy lives and burgeoning responsibilities.

Past Life is out now. Released 29th May 2026 on the DEEP MEDi Bandcamp.

Kahn: Past Life, Present Tense