With Dark Matter / Off The Rails released today on Dirtbox Recordings, we caught up with it is Jev about the groove that got him moving in his studio chair and the contrast he wanted from the two tracks. He explains why he now trusts his physical and emotional response to a sound, and how a natural exchange with the label led to this release.

You have had a busy release run in 2026. Where does Dark Matter / Off The Rails sit within that wider body of work, and what feels most representative of where you are creatively now?

I’d say I’m still in the process of figuring out my sound signature. Unconsciously, a lot of my approach lately has been about trying different styles, moods and production methods and seeing what comes most naturally to me.

What I do know so far is that I enjoy making music that takes the listener somewhere, while still having enough groove to make you want to move. “Dark Matter” and “Off The Rails” are good representatives of that direction, and a lot of my upcoming releases will continue exploring that same territory.

How did the connection with Dirtbox come about, and what made the label the right home for this particular release?

The connection with Dirtbox came about pretty organically. Lee reached out to me about releasing on the label, and after a few conversations, I got a better understanding of what he was building and the amount of work he puts into it. His passion and work ethic definitely resonated with me.

Around the same time, he helped me promote one of my own self-releases, and that eventually turned into me offering him a release in return. I like that kind of natural back-and-forth. So much of what I do happens online and at a distance, so having a genuine exchange with another person in this game makes the whole process feel a lot more tangible.

What was the first idea behind Dark Matter, and what kept you following it once you began developing the track?

For me, it’s usually when I give myself permission to mess around without expecting any particular result that the most interesting ideas appear. With “Dark Matter,” I wanted to really lean into the groove of the drums, so I spent quite a while experimenting with different compression attack and release times, as well as different compression techniques in general.

At some point, I reached a stage where I physically couldn’t sit still in my chair anymore, and that’s when I knew there was enough energy there to turn it into a full idea.

What kept me moving forward was the same principle: letting the tune write itself instead of constantly interrupting the flow of ideas with thoughts about how it should sound. I find that process quite beautiful. It’s less about making a tune according to how you think music is supposed to be made, and more about listening to how the tune itself seems to want to develop.

With Off The Rails, what did you want to explore differently, whether in the writing process or in the energy of the finished tune?

“Dark Matter” needed a second track, and I instinctively felt that it should be less introspective and more of an in-your-face kind of vibe. That way, the release could give a more complete picture of how I want to express myself as a producer, from the more exploratory side to something that just hits you straight in the face.

With that idea in mind, “Off The Rails” pretty much built itself within a few hours. Very exciting few hours, as I remember them.

At what point did you know these two tracks belonged together, and what makes that pairing work as a release rather than simply two separate tunes?

I’ve become quite fascinated with exploring the different things music can do for the listener, so I’ve developed a stronger vision for the kind of experience I want a release to offer. That’s one reason I’m increasingly drawn to two- or three-track releases; they give me enough space to explore different sides of the same idea.

With these two, there’s a deliberate contrast. “Dark Matter” gives you room to sit with it, get lost in it and experience it in a more introspective way. “Off The Rails” is there to simply blast you with sound. I like that both experiences can exist within the same release.

INTERSECTION arrived as your first solo EATBRAIN EP in 2024. What has changed in your studio process, or in what you trust your instincts on, since then?

One of the biggest changes has been learning to trust my physical and emotional response to a sound more than my analytical judgement of it. I’ve become much more interested in the actual texture of a sound and what it makes me feel, rather than simply asking whether it sounds technically impressive.

I used to chase loudness quite heavily because I associated a louder, more polished sound with a better tune. These days I’m much more interested in whether a sound has a certain emotional quality to it. It’s difficult to explain in technical terms because the thing I’m responding to is quite intangible, but that shift in perception has had a pretty big impact on how I make music-making decisions.

Your 2026 releases have landed with several different labels. Does the eventual home of a track shape how you finish it, or do you decide where it belongs only once it is complete?

I find that making music with a particular record label in mind can obscure the pure creative process. It can shift the focus towards this game we call “the industry” and away from my personal relationship with the craft. Once I became aware of that, I made a conscious decision to prioritise the act of creating over worrying about where the finished result might end up.

I’m also not particularly fond of submitting music to labels. Music is such a subjective experience, and relying on someone else’s subjective opinion to validate whether my music is worth releasing doesn’t make much sense to me anymore. That’s why self-releasing has become a natural alternative for me.

That said, I’m absolutely open to labels and their representatives building genuine relationships with the artists they want to work with. For me, “realness” is the new currency in label-artist relationships, and that’s ultimately what I look for when deciding who I want to release music with.

When you are making music for your own sets, what tells you a rough idea has enough character to keep pushing forward?

If we’re talking specifically about music for my own sets, then it has to have danciness and groove. Once I feel like the music is making my body move without me consciously trying to, I’ll start testing the idea in different environments in my head: a club, a festival, or, “the hardest one to pass of them all,” a house party.

If I can imagine the tune working naturally in those environments and it feels good in my head, that’s usually enough of a signal for me to know I want to finish it.

By the time release week arrives, is there any context around Dark Matter / Off The Rails, whether a DJ setting, visual reference, or what comes next, that you would like people to have in mind?

My favourite way of listening to music is in the comfort of my favourite environment. That’s when I’m most receptive to appreciating a body of work properly.

So I can only recommend what I know works for me: find your favourite environment, put the music on, and let it do its thing.

Finally, if you were stranded on a desert island with one drum and bass record, what would you take and why?

Mefjus – “Suicide Bassline VIP.” It’ll remind me of all the good reasons why it’s worth surviving, which might come in handy on a desert island. Hehe.

Our thanks to Jev for sharing the story behind Dark Matter / Off The Rails and the decisions that shaped it.