The Making of TRUE LOVE IN A MADE UP WORLD, San Holo’s Heaviest Album Yet
Four albums in, San Holo is louder than ever — and finally okay with letting other people into the room.
San Holo didn't set out to make a typical EDM album. He set out to make something that felt honest - and somehow ended up reinventing his sound, collaborating with artists he'd never worked with before, and coining a genre that shouldn't make sense but does. “TRUE LOVE IN A MADE UP WORLD”, his fourth studio album, is the result: a collision of heavy sound design and heartfelt songwriting that feels like an unexpected version of San Holo coming after his EXISTENTIAL DANCE MUSIC era.
With the album out now and a North American tour on the horizon, San sat down with us to talk about authenticity, the making of the record, and what it really means to make music on your own terms.
bitbird: You usually let your album titles speak for themselves: "album1", "bb u ok?", "EXISTENTIAL DANCE MUSIC". So what made this title feel like it needed to say something out loud? What does "TRUE LOVE IN A MADE UP WORLD" mean to you?
San Holo: I generally don't like talking about the "meaning" of a song or title - I believe it's beautiful when the listener decides that for themselves. That's why I called my first album simply "album1": I wanted the music alone to create a story for the listener. But I realize we live in a time where people appreciate a little more context, so I'll try my best to elaborate on what it means to me.
Even though this title carries multiple meanings, at its core it’s about authenticity - the challenge of staying true to your heart in a world that wants you to fit in. These days I feel like following your heart and walking your own path isn't rewarded. People copy and paste what works because that's what the masses seem to want, and even those who might want to do things differently are still bound by algorithms, industry “constructs”, or whatever performs on social media. I feel that pressure too, and there's a real underlying frustration that comes with it. Instead of jumping on whatever sound is trending in EDM right now, I wanted to double down on my own and make it much louder. Almost like shouting instead of talking. As if something inside me just wanted to say: “this is me doing my own thing in a made up world of genres and rules.”
There's another angle too. We're now living in an age where it's often hard to know what's the truth - in art, in information, and in the world in general. It often feels like you're really just guessing, and it feels powerless to me. The only truth I feel sure of is anything that comes from a place of love: connection, kindness, grace.
bitbird: You coined "Wholesome Riddim", debuted it at Lost Lands, built a tour around it, and now it's the main sound of your fourth album. How did the term come about?
San Holo: I’ve always enjoyed creating my own little universe to work in. I did something similar for “Existential Dance Music” (EDM) and now “Wholesome Riddim” is just a fun playground to explore a heavier version of my melodic sound. I got very inspired by the loud sounds of riddim and drew a lot of inspiration from the drums, overall groove and pocket of the genre. Even though the songs I’ve been putting out sound nothing like riddim in the traditional sense, I think most people with some imagination can hear the influence here and there! If anything it’s supposed to be playful and spark curiosity. I also hope listeners will dive deeper into genres like future riddim and colorbass cause there’s so much great stuff out there that will resonate with everyone who enjoys melodic bass music in general.
bitbird: This album sounds noticeably different from your previous work. There's a blown-out, overdriven quality to parts of it that feels almost like you're rebelling against the mainstream EDM production. Where did that sound come from, and what did it take to get there in the studio?
San Holo: A big part of it came from exploring different types of volume and LFO curves to create new grooves and flow. Back in the future bass days around 2014, there was this very specific volume curve - you can hear it on the main synth in the "We Rise" drop - that shaped a lot of my flow and pocket. For this album I’ve been exploring a lot of riddim and dubstep curves instead, and it has been super inspiring, pushing me into completely different grooves.
The other big thing was distortion - heavily clipping the master on a lot of songs. For example, the lead synth on the last drop on “LETTING GO!!!!!!” is being completely blown out by bass clipping the master, and there’s just something very special about that sound… It’s how it used to sound back in the days, when you’d record a video at a concert and the music was just so loud - it completely distorted the audio… but somehow it still captured the energy perfectly!
bitbird: Looking at the credits, this album has one of the most eclectic collab rosters you've ever put together: LSDREAM, Big Gigantic, Juelz, Underbelly, RJ Pasin, and more. How do you approach collaboration — does it come naturally to you?
San Holo: Honestly, I have never been great at collaborating musically. I have quite an imaginative inner world that I generally need to stick to. A lot of my songs are created by me chasing a very specific feeling inside, and allowing someone else into that process has often felt like a hindrance.
But with this album I wanted to actively open myself up to outside energies, and I'm really glad I did. By collaborating more, I’ve learned to come out of my shell without feeling afraid to lose my own creative direction. If anything, it really elevated the songs. For example, when I heard RJ Pasin's solo on the second drop of "I WANNA SHOW YOU", I was blown away. He took the song to a whole new level without changing its overall feeling... I’m so happy with how that one came out.
bitbird: Among all the collaborators on this album, some names keep appearing in your world - Bipolar Sunshine, Former Hero - and then there are some genuinely unexpected pairings, like Juelz and YDG. What do each of those relationships give you creatively?
San Holo: I love how Quentin Tarantino often uses the same actors across different movies. It feels different but strangely familiar. That’s why I keep coming back to the same artists and writers. They bring something familiar to the process, even when the song itself is going somewhere new.
Working with artists like YDG and Juelz was eye-opening for a different reason - they're incredibly good at thinking about how music and drops will sound live on big stages! That's honestly never been my strong suit; when I'm making music I'm usually deep inside the feeling of it, not thinking about how it'll translate to a live audience. But working with them taught me a lot! They approach things differently than I do, and sometimes a new perspective is exactly what a song needs.
bitbird: In September, you're debuting the "TRUE LOVE IN A MADE UP WORLD" tour after taking “Wholesome Riddim” on the road twice. Those legs were almost like a testing ground for the new sound before the album existed. What can fans expect from this new tour that they haven't seen before?
San Holo: The Wholesome Riddim tours were really about introducing people to a new sound - playing IDs they'd never heard before. This upcoming tour feels different. The beautiful thing about doing an album is getting the time to express yourself in different ways, and with the "TRUE LOVE IN A MADE UP WORLD" tour I want to showcase the “heavier” side of my sound, but also highlight the quieter, intimate (wholesome) moments as well.
I'm also really excited that people can finally absorb the songs properly now that the album is out. They're not just IDs anymore - they're tracks people have had time to emotionally connect with. It's going to be a lot of fun playing them out knowing that! I’m excited to create new memories for these songs altogether.
bitbird: Which tracks on TLIAMUW do you think most people will sleep on, and why are they secretly your favorite ones?
San Holo: I often find that my favorite songs are the songs that get the least amount of attention due to their experimental nature. “I TRY…” goes from a distorted wholesome riddim type beat into an acoustic ballad. Similarly, “AN INTRODUCTION TO WHOLESOME RIDDIM” starts with a melodic riddim type beat and ends with a classical piano composition. In my mind these songs make SO MUCH sense, but I've come to realize they're not for everyone - they're just the closest representation of what music actually sounds like in my head. The second drop of the title track is probably the heaviest thing I've ever made as San Holo, and I'm really happy with how it came out. I’m not expecting these songs to become very popular or to be played on radio - but I hope everyone who connects with them can feel the TRUE LOVE I put into them…
