Producer and songwriter, Matt Karmil is co-founder of the “Decknology crew.” His recent production work has included the Limrak remix of Timberland/Missy Elliot's “Cop That Sh*t,” the bulk of Jamelia's debut album and many other projects. He’s an essential part of CirKus, the new project with Neneh Cherry and her husband Burt.

How did CirKus come about?

Matt Karmil: cirKus was created in a very erratic way. There was never a plan to become “circus.” Its seeds were planted when I met Burt, by working for him in his north London recording studio. Pretty soon the studio was closed down and we retreated to Burt’s house and became partners. The girls were added afterwards. Lolita came first as we were spending a lot of time together and I loved her voice. Then after another move, this time to the south of Sweden, Neneh was added to add the final piece of the puzzle.

Who writes the music and the lyrics?

Matt Karmil: It is very much a team effort, and the influence will come from anywhere within the group, I guess the majority of the musical ideas come from me and the majority of the lyrics have come from Burt, but like I say, there are no really clearly defined roles. Recording-wise, all the vocals are Neneh, Burt and Lolita and all the music was played by me.

What are the musical influences of the band? When I heard “Laylow” and “Is What it is what it is,” I must admit that I thought about singer Patrice because of the voices. Were you influenced by reggae? Is Patrice the kind of artist you enjoy?

Matt Karmil: He's a friend of ours, in fact we're off to work with him soon. Horace Andy & Dennis Brown influenced all of us.

How would you define your music?

Matt Karmil: Expensive-cheap, low/high, soulZ, drip-hop, slow dance music.

How long did it take you to make this album and to find this original sound?

Matt Karmil: Too long and yet not long enough! How can you put a start date on a piece of music as one is so influenced by everything in one's past and present?

What is your priority in music? You seem to give more importance to melody and to “mood” than to rhythm…

Matt Karmil: No, YOU seem to place more importance on melody and “mood” than to rhythm!!! We don't think about it.

Is “Tent Music” your own label? If yes, are you going to sign artists?

Matt Karmil: Yes and yes!

What is the artistic aim of the label?

Matt Karmil: To be dedicated to releasing honest music.

Will you be on tour soon?

Matt Karmil: Oh yeah! We love to play live, all the upcoming dates are on our myspace page. It’s France for the rest of this year with a couple of dates in Turkey and hopefully moving into the rest of the world early next year.

What will be the differences between your sound in the studio and your sound on stage?

Matt Karmil: It is wildly different on stage… Like we said before there wasn’t really a plan to making cirKus. But the way it turned out, it is a very relaxed and hopefully soothing album. Because of the diversity of the people and influences involved in cirKus I think we try and reflect this more on stage. Also the environment of listening to music live is very different and we have added some more highs, some more lows and tried to balance the interest that we all have in rock music, dance music, and everything else….

Music from Sweden and Denmark is becoming more important and interesting. How do you feel about this?

Matt Karmil: These countries are very lucky in that people seem to have spare time, hobbies, pastimes etc. Also people in Sweden can play really well. There is a certain dedication and accuracy to their mentality towards music that is interesting. We went to Iceland last year and it seemed that there was a Pro Tools rig in every other house- a lot of great music coming from there. I also think the climate and the relative wealth of these countries has a big impact on the music scene.

Official cirKus Website