With his debut full-length album out on underground dance label Whities now, we caught up with Minor Science to talk Miles Davis, De School and his earliest song memory.

Ever since the release of his debut EP Noble Gas back in 2014, the Berlin-based artist has been constantly pushing his sound to new limits, exploring dancefloor semantics through his own finely-tuned and intricately detailed lens. His debut full-length Second Language, released last month, sees Angus Finlayson take this to even greater heights with an overarching opalescent clarity.

With a sound palette that interweaves techno, footwork, IDM and experimental electronica with inimitable agility, Second Language keeps you on your toes, offering a mesmerising sonic narrative that is augmented with each meticulous, and abrupt, shift of tempo and mood. ‘Balconies’ delivers a heady potency driven by footwork rhythms and ‘For Want of Gelt’ hurtles along with brooding drum & bass and playful, shimmering melodies. Tracks such as ‘Blue Deal’ take a more pared-down dub approach and ‘Second Language (Kid The Moon)’ offers a sublime, ambient cut whilst being no less propulsive. A vibrant, harmonic record that very much sees Finlayson at the top of his game, we can’t wait to get lost in these tracks on a dancefloor somewhere when that’s a thing again.

Get to know Minor Science In Short…

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Three words to describe my music…

over the top
Last photo on your phone…

it’s a video of my girlfriend dressed as a crocodile dancing in our living room to Lou Bega’s ‘Mambo No. 5’. lockdown is starting to bite.

Favourite instagram account…
I don’t have instagram, but my brother & his partner’s dog does, so that one. it’s private though sorry.
The best venue I’ve played…
De School in Amsterdam
Earliest song you remember…
It might be Karl Jenkins’ ‘Adiemus’. If you don’t know it, imagine the most ‘90s shit you can, and you’ll be close.
The worst job I’ve ever had…
I feel privileged to not have a very good answer here. I made coffees for a while, which I was terrible at – but it wasn’t that bad.
The thing I most love to cook is…
Something which is easy but takes ages. Open a beer, put the radio on. Bliss!
My favourite book…
I don’t have a single fave, but, picking randomly from a shortlist: Ursula Le Guin – The Dispossessed
Things that cheer me up…
It’s a cliche, but making music makes me happy. Even better than the making it part, though, is the feeling at the end of the day when you’ve got some stuff finished and you’ll be heading back into the studio tomorrow. That’s the moment when you crack open the beer and start cooking. (In some ways lockdown life isn’t that bad).
If I could play a gig anywhere it would be…
I guess this contradicts my last answer slightly, but at this point, pretty much anywhere would be good – I’m not fussy.

I think you should listen to…

The sound of being outside, when you can. Traffic, birdsong, whatever. I listen to podcasts and things sometimes, but I try not to have earbuds stuffed in my ears all the time, because the sound of the place you live is so much a part of its character. And being stuck indoors a lot more at the moment is making me even more aware of that.
If I could see anyone play live it would be…

Miles Davis, at the height of his properly weird fusion era.

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‘Second Language’ is out now on Whities.

Photo Credit: Cecilia Corsano-Leopizzi

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