Get to know Seb Wildblood, the producer serving up hazy house nostalgia

One of the key reasons people go to church is to try and find direction and guidance in life. And that’s how it worked out for Seb Wildblood, but maybe not in the way you’d expect.

When Wildblood threw his first Church event back in 2011 in a South London place of worship, he planted a seed that’s now beginning to bear fruit. “We told St Giles [the church that acted as the venue] that we were doing an art exhibition with a bit of music in at the end, and it worked,” he explains. “But two hours into the first party no-one had turned up. It was embarrassing... but as we got ready to pack up all our stuff, people started streaming in.”

It wasn’t long before word spread throughout South London. By the fourth event, the queue snaked right around the graveyard. The party was soon shut down, but the spirit of Seb Wildblood’s Church was quickly resurrected when Corsica Studios offered the burgeoning DJ a job as a programmer – and a residency.

Seven years later and the 29-year-old runs three imprints (Church, Coastal Haze and All My Thoughts), is touring globally, and about to release his debut album proper, after a mini-album in 2015. “It’s been a really strange few years,” says Seb. “But the album has been a constant throughout and it’s really helped me through some rough patches.”

Having learned the ins and outs of the music business while at Corsica Studios, Wildblood’s Church imprint became one of the most respected young labels in London and beyond, signing early releases by FYI Chris, Mall Grab, Laurence Guy and Chaos In The CBD, and earning him a glowing reputation as a curator and DJ. His second imprint, Coastal Haze, is no different, with releases from promising talent like Ciel, OMMA and D. Tiffany. In 2017, he founded his third label, All My Thoughts, as a way to “manoeuvre various sounds and aesthetics” and eventually “break out of the purely electronic world.”

Seb demonstrates this direction on his forthcoming album ‘Sketches of Transition’. It’s a profoundly personal LP filled with unique instrumentation and uncharted sounds that’s taken him two years to finish. “I wanted to focus on live musicianship with this one,” he explains. “It was just kinda what needed to come out. I hadn’t written music for a long time, but I’d just broken up with a long-term partner and songs started to pour out of me. It was like the floodgates had opened again.”

Allowing his personal tribulations and moments of triumph to guide his process resulted in 10 deeply melodic and intricate tracks that would be equally as at home on Pampa or Rhythm Section. This is an artist, and a DJ, worth keeping a close eye on.

Seb Wildblood’s ‘Sketches Of Transition’ is out now on All My Thoughts

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