Ewan Pearson
Ewan Pearson is one of the most respected producers and in demand remixers in the UK at the moment.
Kidderminster-born Ewan Pearson has been making records since 1996. Following two singles for Lee Fisher’s Birmingham indie Bosting, (“Motorcade” as Villa America and Dirtbox‚ “The Reason”) Ewan’s love of house and techno saw him hook up with one of his favourite labels Soma, for his first critically-acclaimed Maas EP. By then Ewan had moved to London to take a Master’s degree in philosophy and cultural studies. When this was completed it was back to music - a second EP (including the deep techno fave “Juan Is The Teacher”), followed by an album, “Latitude”, which yielded two more singles, the downbeat lushness of “Look At Me Now, Falling” (which featured two mixes from France’s i:cube) and “Another Saturday Night” - a piece of disco house with inspired remixes from Swag and Nail.
Following the release of “Latitude” Ewan took Maas out as a live act. With over forty club and festival gigs around the UK and Europe he played at nights such as Slam, Bugged Out, The End, Laurent Garnier’s legendary ‘Wake Up’ at Paris’ Rex Club, and Berlin's Tresor. He has also played at the Sonar, Benecassim and Roskilde festivals.
After returning to college in 1997 for an abortive first year of a PhD (including a semester as a lecturer in popular music at the University of East London) Ewan divided his time between gigs, remixing and co-writing a book on dance music. “Discographies” was written with Jeremy Gilbert for academic press with Routledge and published in July 1999. Although he released no new material on Soma in the next two years, a low-key downbeat release as World of Apples for Ideal’s Giant 45 label became something of a cult success. Tracks such as “Travis” and “Fifteen Months” from the Chroma EP were still being played two years after its release, and his World of Apples mix of Christian Zimmerman’s “Diary of a Lost Girl” (also on Giant 45) was lauded by the likes of Phil Mison and Mixmaster Morris as ‘a modern chill-out classic’. The second World of Apples EP “The Days Are Just Packed” was released to further acclaim in June 2000.
He also spent much of 1999 producing an album for singer-songwriter Jeb Loy Nichols. Born in Missouri but resident in the UK, Jeb achieved critical acclaim in the US in 1997 for his Capitol album “Lover's Knot”. Only available in Britain on import it nevertheless caught the attention of Geoff Travis who signed Jeb for a follow-up on the newly re-formed Rough Trade label. Recorded in London and Jamaica “Just What Time It Is” was released in August 2000. The first single to be taken from the record, “Say Goodbye To Christopher”, was co-written by Ewan.
1999 also saw the first new Maas single for two years, “Powers of Ten”, a tough Chicago house track written specially for a live appearance at Barcelona's Merce festival. Backed up with a remix from label-mate Funk D’Void, “Powers…” was played by DJ’s such as Ralph Lawson, Jon Marsh, Ashley Beedle, DiY and Josh Wink.
Since the release of Latitude‚ Ewan has also completed an ever-growing number of remixes for labels such as Sony, F-Com, Sirkus, Versatile and Grand Central amongst others (see accompanying discography). In February 2001 Soma Recordings released a compilation “Small Change” gathering together some of his finest remix work as both Maas and World of Apples. The eleven track CD included tracks by Leftfield, Aaron Carl, Chaser and Christian Zimmerman.
2001 also saw Ewan complete remixes for Nelly Furtado (Dreamworks), Zuco 103 (SSR), 1 Giant Leap (Palm Pictures), Russ Gabriel (Out of the Loop), Deem-C (Slip ‘n’ Slide), His Name Is Alive (4AD), Jaymz Nylon (Out of the Loop) and Freeform 5 (Classic).
Ewan also spent several weeks working as a writer / producer with former Gus Gus vocalist Hafdis Huld, on her forthcoming solo project. These sessions also produced a track for Ewan’s forthcoming Soma album, “Let It Go”.
Choosing no longer to play live while there was no new original material to promote Ewan started to DJ regularly in the UK and Paris in addition to gigs at Plages Sonores Festival in Montpellier, the Big Chill, Barcelona, Copenhagen and Istanbul. After several guest appearances he has also become one of the residents at Come Shake The Whole in London.
In the autumn of 2001 Ewan co-produced and mixed the new Jeb Loy Nichols album “Easy Now” for Rykodisk. The 13-track album was recorded in Wales and mixed at the Fallout Shelter, London during September and October and was released May 2002.
2002 saw Ewan's career as a remixer move from strength to strength with a succession of well received mixes for the likes of Freeform 5 (“Perspex Sex” for Classic), 5th Level (“Jump Up” for Vapour), Black Strobe (“Me ‘n’ Madonna” for Output), Slam featuring Dot Allison (“Visions” for Soma), Erlend Oye (“A Sudden Rush” for Source), Playgroup (“Make It Happen” for Output) and Seelenluft (“Manila” for Klein). His remix of “Perspex Sex” was voted best remix of 2002 by the readers of Groove magazine in Germany and went on to win Remix of the Year in the German Dance Music awards. Ewan also co-produced Trevor Jackson's cover of Depeche Mode's “Behind the Wheel” for the Playgroup DJ-Kicks compilation.
A single for Out of the Loop under the name Partial Arts (“Canopy” written and produced with Alastair Usher and featuring remixes from Riton and Russ Gabriel) was released in February and received enthusiastic play from the likes of Giles Petersen, Jazzanova, Rainer Truby and Tony Humphries. Ewan and Al have also remixed Jaymz Nylon “I Know A Place” (Out of the Loop), Blake “Saturday Night” (Ideal), Midnight Star “Midas Touch” (Ideal) and Swag “Where I Belong” (Version Music).
Ewan started 2003 with an acclaimed remix of Goldfrapp’s “Train” for Mute. He also completed remixes for The Flaws (“Freek” on Bitches Brew), Ladytron (“Evil” for Telstar), Goldfrapp’s second single from “Black Cherry”, “Strict Machine” (Mute), Futureshock “Pride’s Paranoia” (Parlophone/JBO) and the Chemical Brothers / Flaming Lips collaboration “The Golden Path” (Virgin).
His DJ schedule has become busier and busier, including a regular slot at Berlin’s Watergate club and gigs at Ivan Smagghe’s ‘Kill the DJ’ night at the Pulp, Paris, Madrid, Ghent, Belgrade, Oslo, Copenhagen and three dates at Manumission’s Music Box in Ibiza alongside the likes of the Rapture and Har Mar Superstar.
Ewan is currently living in Berlin and working there on his second artist album for Soma recordings. The new year should see the release of Ewan’s collaboration with Hope Grant on the forthcoming Envoy single “Move On”. An emotive piece of electronic soul with a stunning vocal from Grant, “Move On” also features a 29-piece string arrangement from Craig Armstrong.
