Project Karnak is the production duo brainchild of keyboardist Dominic Canning and drummer Sam Ouissellat. ‘Equinox’ is their debut EP released on London label None More Records. The whole idea behind the band is that they make synthesised, electronic sounds and bring them into a “jazz” realm accompanied by tight, energetic and fresh drums.
The duo meld influences from drum & bass, jazz, funk and the “Final Fantasy” soundtrack into their fresh new sound.
Dominic Canning says “I guess we’re just trying to make music that inspires and sounds new and exciting to us. In every tune we make, we try to create something different within it, but still try to keep our original vibe. Sam’s always messing around with different ideas for grooves for us to use. We think mixing acoustic drums with electronic sounds is something that sounds fresh, and it’s become part of our sound.
Style wise- a lot of things have influenced us really. We both played video games a lot growing up, I feel like that influences our sound a lot. One of the main games that stood out to us was “Final Fantasy”. It had so much sick music in it. Something about the textures and pads they used would completely immerse you in a game. Sam is heavily influenced by break beat music and drum & bass/ jungle which where he gets a lot inspiration for all the fast kind of drum stuff he does.
Cats of Nunhead was the first track we made together. It came about from the first time we got together and jammed in Sam’s studio. I started layering some chords in logic, and Sam held down a groove. We jammed if it for a while and I worked on it some more. We both lived in Nunhead but Sam moved to Catford a couple of years ago. We thought mixing the names together would be a cool title for our first track.”
The Equinox EP is dropping on May 25th via None more Records, pre-order your copy here or grab it from any good record store near you. Project Karnak launch Equinox at the Total Refreshment Centre in East London on 7th June, grab your tickets here.