Interviews

Rooted in hardware jams, analog warmth, and spontaneous dancefloor energy, Luv Glissant are here with their debut release, No Longer In Control, landing digitally on 27 February 2026 via Whiskey Pickle Records. The collaborative project of Sol Glissant and luvcreatexplore thrives on improvisation, building tracks from extended live sessions using synths, samplers, and drum machines before sculpting them into refined club-ready cuts. The result is a sound that sits comfortably between deep house pulse, cosmic disco textures, and raw electronic experimentation. With more releases already lined up and a growing relationship with Whiskey Pickle Records, No Longer In Control feels like both a statement of intent and a natural evolution. We caught up with Luv Glissant to talk about the new release, their creative chemistry, label connection, influences, and what lies ahead.

Hi Guys, Congrats on the new collaboration and EP… How did you guys link up?

Sol Glissant: We met through mutual friends a few years back and decided to get together for a jam. It was clear that we got along well, had cohesive musical tastes and a compatible vision for what our music could sound like. Most of all, we had a lot of fun! After a few jams, we felt we might be onto something and began to jam regularly.

LCE: We have been working on a lot of music over the last few years and this EP is a collection of older and newer stuff. We have grown a lot in the collaboration, working together to get really comfortable with each other and the gear in the studio. Almost every jam session ends up turning into a song and every one it feels like we learn something new. We work really well together and have these different sensibilities we bring to the project so it's just been a really easy collaboration where the music just flows.

Your workflow is rooted in extended hardware improvisations. Can you walk us through what a typical Luv Glissant session looks like from jam to final track?

LCE: It usually starts with us meeting up, chatting, and checking in on each other. Then, trying to pick a direction on the tempo of the track and as we go along picking sounds. We try to agree on what the feeling of the track is. Once that is decided, we lean into that direction. We'll usually talk about what environment this track is being played in, and how people would ideally feel when listening to it.

We also love to start with a sample, or some ideas to float around. With the way we work, there is more prep involved when using samples as it's best to process them somewhat before hand, and then we get them in the machines.

Sol Glissant: Once we load the samples into the machines, the computer is turned off. It's less distracting and so much more fun. We almost entirely write and record on the hardware. After everything is set up, it's mostly fun and experimentation. We choose our sounds, program the sequences, and set up the mixer and fx. Once we feel comfortable with our programming, we set up for a final jam and hit record. After that, it's just jamming. At some point, one of us usually jumps on the mic and riffs, which can be quite hilarious. We'll usually record for about 15-20 minutes. Then, we take the recording into Ableton, and edit it down to a finished track.

The title No Longer In Control suggests surrendering to the moment. Does that reflect your creative philosophy in the studio?

LCE: There are multiple meanings to that title… It's accurate to say that it reflects our philosophy in that we work with limitations and restrictions of using only the gear in front of us to record. We try to record whatever we came up with that same day, so we keep that immediacy of how we were feeling in the moment. There are the rare times when we feel like what we recorded initially felt rushed, unfinished or has some glaring problem that can’t be fixed. When that happens, we load up the machines on a different day and go back to our initial session. Sometimes, we end up going in a completely different direction with the bones of the earlier idea.

The other meaning is a story that links a few of the songs together and feels relevant within the times we are in. The beginning of this story is our track Cyborg Bango. It is a story where humans are offered a devil’s bargain to -be a robot”, and the temptation to gain superpowers. It asks listeners, “Don’t you wanna…?” Let’s See What Happens is the middle of the story where the transformation from human to cyborg is in motion.The title track, No Longer In Control, is the last part of the story and it states “we” humans are no longer in control and that these machines want to take our soul.

SG: I would say that is true. Our sound feeds from creation in the moment, improvisation, and happy accidents…and some not so happy, but we edit those out. I think in this way, a part of ourselves that might not be expressed through overthinking surfaces, and it becomes intimate.

How did your relationship with Whiskey Pickle Records first come about, and what makes the label the right home for this project?

SG: I reached out to Whiskey Pickle in 2022 in hopes of finding a home for my Sol Glissant project. We hit it off, and the “Songs of Solitude” EP was released in 2022.. After some years, LCE and I had enough of a collection to present to them, and I’m grateful to say that it was a fit. The music that Whiskey Pickle releases is forward thinking, but nods to the history of dance music. It feels timeless.. I hope this ethos comes across with our music as well.

How hands-on has the collaboration with the label been in shaping this release, from A and R feedback to artwork and rollout?

SG: It has been a pretty easy collaboration to this point. We had the tracks ready to present in a collection, and they chose their favorites. They had the artwork created and everything has flowed nicely from there. Whiskey Pickle has done a really nice job with promoting the release.

As a collaborative project between Sol Glissant and luvcreatexplore, how do your individual backgrounds complement each other creatively?

LCE: As a DJ, I’m always digging for new music - buying records, ripping them, saving ideas for samples. I’m looking for sounds everywhere, and love to find random interview bits or samples from unexpected places. Like one time, I had my family from NY on speaker phone talking about random stuff while we were working. We mic’d the phone and layered it into a song.

Working together with SG has taken the productions I have been involved with to a much higher level from where I was at before the collaboration. I’ve learned so much in our time from how to build a fully analog recording studio, music theory, and just how to record live music in this type of studio environment. Sonically there is a shared taste but also pulling from a lot of completely different wells, we’re always introducing each other to new music.

SG: I’m a bit of a reclusive studio nerd. I’ve been making music for a long time, and now I’m at a point where I just love to jam in the studio.

As an active (and really fantastic) dj, LCE is much more in touch with the sounds floating around out there, old and new. He’s a knowledgeable and diverse selector, so the ideas and experience he brings have an essential influence on what comes out of our sessions.

There is a clear deep house and cosmic disco thread running through your sound. What artists, scenes, or eras have most influenced this record?

LCE: Larry Heard runs through everything we do and is such a big influence with his deep catalog and range of music with different aliases. Kagurazaka definitely has a feeling inspired by Soichi Terada & Shinichiro Yokota tracks. Jazz of the Jungle has this raw street kind of vibe that maybe has some inspiration from releases from the Open Space label down in Miami.

SG: For this project, I think my time living in San Francisco has a big influence. Also, the era in the late 70’s/early 80’s, when disco, funk, hip-hop, and R&B all mixed together and went electronic is a big inspiration for me.

Compared to your previous material, what feels different or evolved on No Longer In Control?

LCE: This is really just the beginning for me. I made some music and released it in 2023 as I spent a lot of time learning how to make music in ableton during Covid. Working on this Luv Glissant project has taken everything to the next level sonically and creatively. It’s been great to work together on these songs and we have progressed a lot from our early tracks from 2024 to what we are making right now.

SG: The biggest difference from my previous releases is the collaboration with LCE. We wouldn’t sound like we do if there weren’t the two of us involved. Also, since my earlier Sol Glissant releases, my studio has grown and been refined. I’ve had a lot of time to study up and develop a method that I love.

With vinyl on the way and more releases lined up, how are you thinking about the balance between club functionality and home listening experiences?

LCE: When shaping releases, we are always thinking about this balance, and we try to have a diverse selection of tracks, with some meant for the dancefloor and others more funky chair groovers. As a dj, I always like to have a record in my bag that works well for different moments of a long set, so we tend to think about it from that lens. For the home listener this also works because they go on a journey when listening from start to finish, with peaks and valleys.

SG: I would say that we try to make funky danceable music that is also fun to listen to. From track to track it varies, but I like a good chair dance as much as a sweaty dancefloor.

What can we expect next from Luv Glissant in 2026, more collaborations, live shows, or perhaps a deeper conceptual project?

LCE: This year we are starting a label called Audio Visual Nootropics to release music into the world that we believe in. with the first release coming on vinyl later this year. More edits for the PPL coming soon. Stay tuned…

SG: I’m most excited about the new label that we are starting, and the Luv Glissant EP that will be the first release.There’ll be some fun edits to share along the way. Beyond that, there’s a few more releases already cooking.

Check out the latest release from Luv Glissant.