Pay It Forward: Sherelle on SBTRKT

DJ, producer and broadcaster Sherelle reveals the monotony-nuking impact SBTRKT had on her listening habits.

This is delving deep into blog eras and LimeWire but I first heard SBTRKT on Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw’s Radio One show. It was Living Like I Do, which is how I fell in love with Sampha too, who had a track with Jessie Ware called Valentine. It was just this bunch of music that felt – and still does – very genreless. It’s all so cinematic and emotional. That specific era influenced my new album heavily. 

When I was young, I was watching MTV and VH1 religiously, and the rotation was Basement Jaxx, Daft Punk, The Prodigy. I remember having a really good time in front of the TV, and my mum and sister just left me to it, having a nice little dance. Then you go from that to listening to the radio, to Annie Mac or Mary Anne Hobbs, and you choose your music a bit more. SBTRKT is one of those artists I heard who stayed with me.

I would listen to that first album on the way to my job at River Island. I was like 17 and I’d be gassed whenever Pharaohs came on. I’d be dragging these big rails of clothes, then all of a sudden, Pharaohs would come on and it would change my perspective on life. It would come on, I’ve got five minutes till the end of my shift, and I’d be strutting out of the store: “Yes, I’m free.”

When I first heard Sanctuary, I’d never heard a tune that gobsmacked me like that before. It was like being in a rocket travelling through space, looking at the whole discography of music. XTC SUSP9ND3D, on my album, is a personal song for me; I felt very vulnerable making it. I could sense it was coming from a specific place but I could also hear the influence of Sanctuary. We’re not in the same BPM range, but leaning into emotion and expressing myself through music is the easiest thing for me. I’ve always gravitated towards music with some form of raw emotion.

SBTRKT is one of the very few people I know who’s kept that constant thread of being able to make a tune intrinsically theirs. I could have chosen Machinedrum, Lone, Kode9, or Rashad obviously, but it’s mind-boggling to me why SBTRKT isn’t mentioned more as an influence.