London’s creative music duo, 2fox (aka Max Sinàl, and Ivor Novello Award winning Renell Shaw) are making big waves on the scene with their blend of eclectic soulful dance music. With over 10 million streams and 350,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, 2fox continue to connect their global audience with some of the UK’s most exciting artists such as: House Gospel Choir, Nandi, Afronaut Zu, Rudimental, Hamzaa, Sophia Thakur, Rosey Chan and Laville. 2fox are rooted in the energy of club culture, and are inspired by the diversity, stories, and spectrum of rhythms that can only be gathered together in a cosmopolitan city such as London. As their brilliant ‘Elevation’ EP drops on Soul Clap Records, DMCWorld check in with Max and Renell, aka 2fox.
Please can you introduce yourselves to our DMCWorld readers.
R – My Name is Renell Shaw, I’m a composer and songwriter from East London. I met Max while on tour as a Multi-Instrumentalist for Rudimental.
M – I’m Max Sinàl from East London. Yeah we met coming up to 10 years ago now when I was Rudimental’s tour support DJ.
How did you first get into making music, and specifically dance music?
R – I got into making Dance music when Max and I came off tour, and decided to get into the studio to see what a collaboration might sound like.
M – I started messing around with Cubase back when I was in school, but didn’t start taking it seriously until about 2012, then had my first release in 2013. I’m completely self-taught.
What is the best piece of new music you have heard recently?
R – Willo Smith ‘Symptom of Life’. I love the whole album, but this was the first track I heard. She’s done a wicked tiny desk performance too.
M – There is so much to choose from! This last week I’ve been hammering Tree Threes – ‘Your Crown My Love’. The definition of real deep house.
How would you describe your signature sound?
Our sound is a mix of Afro groove foundations, singable basslines, house inspired production and soulful vocals.
Who or what inspires your music?
People inspire the music, we say that a 2fox record has to be able to move you spiritually and physically, or it isn’t really a 2fox record.
What’s been your most successful release so far?
‘Mi Casa’ featuring Nandi by far. It took around 18 months for it to start taking off. It’s about to hit 10 million Spotify streams and gets 1 million a month at the moment, which is pretty mind blowing!
Congratulations on your new ‘Elevation’ EP on Soul Clap Records, what was the inspiration behind the release and what can we expect to hear?
Thak you, the 2fox sound has been evolving, and we wanted to get back into the studio and figure out where we wanted to go sonically. This EP was inspired by a lot of Soul, Broken Beat and Funk listening sessions. We both listen to a lot of different music and we are always looking for a sonic equilibrium that we can both be proud of when we complete a record or EP.
Who was involved with the project?
Singer and songwriter Nandi is a one half of the 2fox vocal foundation, she sings lead vocals on ‘Just Be’ but she is also doing backing vocals on ‘Elevation’.
Laville is a new addition to the 2fox collaboration roster, his soulful vocals are all over ‘Elevation’ and he sings the chorus on ‘Mare Street State of Mind’.
Working with Sophia Thakur has opened a new space for 2fox, we hadn’t worked with a poet before this ep. Her ability to craft intricate but easy listening stories on ‘Mare Street State of Mind’ and ‘Just Be’ has been a amazing addition.
Afronaut Zu is the other half of the 2fox vocal foundation, he provided the sung/spoken outro to ‘Just Be’, as well as singing backing vocals on that record.
Have you got a favourite track from the EP?
R – ‘Just Be’ is a special record, it’s an open letter about self-validation, encouraging the listener to try your best at whatever it is you want to do, and to reflect on the fact that you are more than enough.
M – All three hold special different meanings really. Production wise I’d have to say ‘Mare Street State Of Mind’. Renell and I built the whole track in the space of a few hours and it all happened really organically. Like everything we tried seemed to work first time. It was a very satisfying session.
How you typically go about putting a new song together and who does what in the studio?
R – Sometimes a song starts with a badly recorded voice note that I’ll send to max, other times I’ll send over a riff and he’ll build around that. When we get in the studio together, I write a lot of the lyrics, work out vocal arrangements and play the majority of the instruments on a song, but once a strong nucleus is established, Max tucks into the finer details of a record, this is where I take a step back and lean on his experience as a DJ and his knowledge of the House/Club scene.
M – We always joke about the fact that some of our favourite moments in our records have happened by fluke. Genius accidents haha. I think I work best when Renell sends over a bass line and some chords then I can build a tune around them. A lot of the time we work separately on our sections then come together and do the final polishing together.
What can we typically expect to experience at a 2fox live show?
A lot of energy and different personalities. We take a lot of time programming our set to tell a story and also incorporate lesser-known songs from our catalogue alongside the more well known ones.
What has been your favourite gig so far this year?
R – Southport Weekender was amazing, I’ve never played it before. Seeing people singing, dancing and working up a sweat is exactly what 2fox’s live sets are about it was cathartic.
M – Yeah same. Southport had been on my bucket list to play for a very long time. The energy and love we got from the crowd was powerful!
You both have impressive separate musical careers outside of 2fox, please tell us about those.
R – In 2020 I won the Ivor Novello Award for my composition ‘The Windrush Suite’, it opened a lot of doors for me and lead into more work composing for Orchestra, Opera, Media and Theatre. Separately from that I’ve written records with Rudimental, Emeli Sande, Nile Rodgers, Anne-Marie, Jess Glynne, Nitin Sawhney and Speech Debelle. Working across a vast set of creative platforms has allowed me to use my experiences to produce and curate music in interesting spaces. I’m currently working on a commission that fuses fashion within an immersive digital world.
M – I’ve been releasing music and DJing under various alias’ for 26 years. I started out on East London’s pirate radio circuit in the Garage days and have been evolving my sound ever since, while still having that influence in my music. Over the years I’ve released on labels such as Of Unsound Mind, Black Butter, Elements amongst others. I started my current alias of Max Sinàl last year to coincide with my new label Soul Quest Records and things have been building nicely. Last summer DJ Mag named me as one of their Best Emerging Artists and my releases have been getting lots of support from across the board. DJ wise, I play regularly at London venues such as Fabric and Koko and have been a regular on the festival circuit for the last 10 years.
What has been your biggest learning curve or challenge so far in the music industry?
M – My biggest lesson has been not to believe something until it’s there in front of you. I’ve been on the receiving end of so many broken promises and had so much time wasted that if I still let it get to me how I used to, I would have found a new job by now because I wouldn’t be able to take the anxiety. I feel very much in control of my career now. All the people I work closely with are friends of mine who I trust and my bullshit detection radar is pretty on point.
R – Learning how to separate music business from musical passion. I’ve found a healthy balance now.
We come to raid your record collection, which embarrassing record do you chuck out the window before we arrive?
R – That’s not fair! I love all of my records, but if I had to choose, it would probably be Tenacious D – ‘Tribute’.
M – Ha! I actually found an old Justin Timberlake single in my collection when I was having a dig the other week. Honestly have no idea where it came from. Would happily fling that one. (Honestly don’t know where it came from sshhhhh…)
What record makes you say ‘damn, I wish I made that’?
R – Earth Wind and Fire ‘In The Stone’ and ‘Fantasy’, amazing arrangements, great songwriting and funky. Anything by Earth Wind and Fire if I’m honest. Their work has had a massive influence on me.
M – Anything that Sault have released. Inflo is the best producer in the world for me right now. Anything he touches makes me feel like an amateur.
Finally, what new productions are you working on that you can tell us about?
We are in full album mode at the moment and are working with some dream collaborators. Can’t really say much more, but this will be our best work to date!
2fox ‘Elevation’ EP (Ft Laville, Nandi, Sophia Thakur and Afronaut Zu) is out now on Soul Clap Records.
https://music.empi.re/elevationep
