STREAMING AUDIO INTERVIEW

At only 25 years of age it’s not hard to be more than a little jealous of the success Scottish electro-pop prodigy Calvin Harris has achieved in his relatively short time playing the field. Shooting into the stratosphere with his cheekily titled (ahem, arrogant?) debut album I Created Disco in 2007, whether you stand on the ‘love’ or ‘hate’ side of the fence – as many tend to do – one thing’s for certain; he’s certainly someone you can’t ignore.

Riding high on the success of I’m Not Alone, the first taste of his forthcoming sophomore album, Calvin was fighting back a bout of the flu when we got him on the line for a chat. “I’ve got a bit of the sniffles,” he grumbled, before giving us a quick insight into what’s on the horizon for Herr Harris. “There’s a lot of festivals [coming up], as there tends to be over the summer. The priority is finishing the album, though, over the next few months.”

Ahh yes, the album. Is this the same one he lied about losing to buy more time from his record label? Yep, indeed it is. However it’s not like he’s been sitting back and resting on his laurels, with the highlight of 2008 being his chart topping collaboration with fellow UK music star Dizzee Rascal (which, it’s just been revealed, will be reprised for another single in the near future).

It’s something of an uncommon tactic for Calvin to have now released I’m Not Alone before his second LP is finished, but he explains the motivation was not born out of any desire to do thing differently. “We just got bored,” he explains, as a matter of fact. “We had that song done ages ago, and it was like we thought ‘oh c’mon, just put it out.’ So we did! There wasn’t any kind of big plan behind it, but I’ve been almost finished the album for ages. It’ll be finished by the time it needs to come out.”

I’m Not Alone is out now through Sony BMG, with suitably massive remixes courtesy of Tiesto, Deadmau5 and Herve. Also, be sure to stay tuned for details of Calvin’s next single coming soon, which is said to have remixes from Fake Blood, Dave Spoon and High Contrast. Friends in high places, indeed!