Flava D: The Drum & Bass Journey That Led to 'Here & Now'

It’s bank holiday weekend in the UK – an annual turning point when artists and fans soak up the last glimmers of summer before turning to club season. A time when it seems like everyone in the industry is feeling the aftermath of packed summer schedules. Flava D knows this all too well. 

“I woke up with a husky voice today; I think a cold is trying to get me,” she tells Beatportal. “I had a gig in between Carlisle and Edinburgh, which was an eight-and-a-half-hour train from Bournemouth…But it’s just part of the job, you have to crack on.” 

For some, the August holiday is a moment to go wild for one weekend in the warm weather; for others, it’s a moment to reflect on the events that have unfolded over the preceding months. This year, Flava D is among the latter. Between touring Australia and New Zealand, and playing big festivals, including Hospitality On The Beach and Boomtown, where she played her debut b2b with SHOSH, it’s been one of her busiest summers yet. But it was her time at Let it Roll that glistens as her top highlight of the summer. Along with playing a set at the drum & bass festival, she created one of the tracks (currently unreleased) used in the festival’s prestigious main stage opening ceremony.

“That was one of the most surreal moments of my career,” she says with a big grin. “It was the first track introducing the whole event. That’s a drum & bass producer's dream.” 

While touring has kept her busy, Flava D has also been deep in one of her most productive years of writing music, building up to the biggest milestone of her career: her debut album, Here & Now. Comprising 15 tracks, with collaborations alongside Mandidextrous, MPH, Unglued, Nu:Tone, and Eva Lazarus and more, the album is a full-throttle journey through a genre Flava D has flourished in since joining Hospital Records in 2019 – drum & bass. 

As an artist who’s been active in the bass music scene since 2013, it may come as a surprise that Flava D is only now releasing her debut album. After originally making a name for herself in the garage scene through anthems like “Soul Shake” with My Nu Leng and “Vibsing Ting” as part of TQD, when she joined the Hospital Records roster, it was a significant career switch-up. Not only was she joining a new label, she was stepping into a genre she’d never worked in before – one she had looked up to since she started following the label’s music when she was just 14. 

“If you’d told me 10 years ago I’d be releasing a d&b album, I’d say you were lying!” She jokes. “...It's been a massive learning curve moving into d&b from garage. I thought I was a good producer until I started making d&b…I would be playing my sketch ideas next to a break tune, and it would make me want to quit.” 

But it’s a challenge she’s thankful for: “Moving across to d&b has levelled me up in a way that is crucial if you want to have your tune stand up,” she adds. 

This level up is audible on Here & Now. The most detailed Flava D work to date, the album showcases her ability to work between d&b’s lines. From the soulful tones of “Can’t Get It Back” with SOLAH, to the dance floor energy of “Reesey Thing,” to the jungle breaks of “The Function" with Logan_olm, Here & Now is a vibrant picture of a genre that has captured Flava D’s heart. 

“I wanted to have a bit of everything on there,” she says. “I've always been eclectic with my music and my sets. My album is like that too.” 

While connecting with the genre on a deeper level has been a motivation for Flava D, this drive has also been her downfall in getting the album finished sooner: a project she has been working towards since putting out her first d&b single “Return To Me” in 2019. “It’s taken a while to get here because I was over-scrutinizing how I wanted it to be,” she admits. “With it being my first album, and fully d&b, I felt the pressure to match the high-bar of the genre.” It was only a year ago Flava D “got to a place where I felt satisfied with my music. Once I achieved that, ideas started flowing.” 

The album  – a project she describes as “my musical diary for the last year and a half” – is some of her “most expressive work yet.” 

“I wanted the album to be more personal with more vocal-based songs, rather than just club bangers,” Flava D says. “I love the track with Lauren Archer, ‘The Cycle’. It was an emotional tune from the soul I made to help me get through something.” 

As we talk, it’s clear Here & Now is not just a representation of where she is at musically, but also personally. From getting married earlier this year to embracing sobriety at shows over summer, there’s a refreshing sense of being present that radiates from her, something she admits hasn’t always been the case.

“Last year, there were lots of changes going on in my personal life, being a workaholic for so many years caught up with me. I took a break to figure things out while focusing on getting the album right. I'm in a good space now, but last year was like a therapy for myself. With the title of the album being Here & Now, it felt right to portray exactly what I am and what I'm feeling.” 

While the album’s primary focus is showcasing where Flava D is in the present, sonically, it also nods to her roots, namely in songs like “Do You Want Me.” 

“I intentionally used some of my garage basslines and melodies from the past and reworked them on that track,” she says. “It's very old-school me, but today in d&b. I even use my voice for the vocal.” 

Flava D’s experimentation won’t stop with Here & Now. With her debut album now out in the world, Flava D is keen to continue honing her “UK sound” by paying homage to the corners of bass music that have defined her journey: “Even though I’m constantly trying to do things differently, I’m always mindful to revisit sounds I've used in the past or create melodies in a patch I’ve used for a TQD track. That helps me to keep my sound more recognisable.” 

Having fun with her music and not putting pressure on herself to stay in one lane is something listeners can expect to see more of from Flava D on the road ahead, across 140 BPM sets like she did at UKF Invites London earlier this year, and more productions outside of a d&b tempo, such as “Dutty” with P Money. It all comes back to the UK sound she’s representing. 

"I’m looking to come back to my roots again over the next year, releasing more garage and 140,” she says. “I’m having fun experimenting with my music and not overthinking it. I’m trying to avoid putting pressure on myself to make music that sounds a certain way. I’m enjoying having that freedom and I’m excited to see what next year holds.”

Flava D's debut album Here & Now is out now via Hospital Records. Listen below or get it on Beatport.