Exclusive Interview: Magnificence talk “II” EP & Tomorrowland

Magnificence are more than ready to drive their unprecedented sound into a new decade, having taken the dance music world by storm over the past 2 years. Robin Klaver and Maurice van der Molen are two of the industry’s most promising talents. They already boast an impressive array of releases including the incredibly successful “Magnificence EP” which caught the attention of Swedish House Mafia way before it’s official release. “Out Of My Mind” and “Cobra” featured in their historical set as the Scandinavian trio reunited in Miami, and was a pivotal point in making the Magnificence name thrive.

The “Magnificence EP” was the first of two EP’s that we have now been treated to by the duo; 2019 has brought their eagerly awaited EP “II” into fruition. The boys have worked tirelessly in and out of the studio to draw their influences together to produce something memorable. From the bassy depths of “Control”, through to the transcending melodies of “Encore”, “II” takes us on a memorable and emotive journey through a unique soundscape.

There is something even more exciting for them to look forward to as they continue to tour worldwide with their stunning new work. Ahead of their Tomorrowland debut, We Rave You caught up with Magnificence for an exclusive interview, in which we wanted to find out what to expect this weekend and beyond.

So first of all, its been impressive to see the announcement of your first show at Tomorrowland, where you’ll appear on July the 27th on the Axtone Arena stage. How does it feel to be able to play one of the biggest festivals in the world?



“It’s like a dream coming true. Back in the days, we would sit in the studio watching the live stream every single time. We were always saying to each other that we wanted to be a part of this amazing festival and after all these years of work, the moment is finally there. We’re happy and proud to be invited by Axwell to join him on his own Axtone stage. We are ready for Tomorrowland and we hope Tomorrowland is ready for us as well!”

Do you have anything special planned for your performance? Any new edits or Magnificence tracks?



Robin: “Absolutely! For those who have seen us play live know we build our sets around our own music. So our Tomorrowland set is going to be full with own special edits, mashups and new music. Whenever there is going to be new music, you’ll hear it in our sets first!”

Since you have started touring, what has been your favourite and least favourite gig so far?
 

Maurice: “With Tomorrowland and Creamfields UK coming up, ask us again in 2 months! But up until today for me, the best gig was at Opium Club in Toulouse. The people there were all in for the music, the vibe was so good that we played until the end of the night. This gig was a night that I will never forget.

Least favourite?  Well call me cheesy, but I really enjoyed every show we did up till date, big and small, close to home and far away. It always amazes me to see so many people working their buts off to promote or produce their events for us to play on. It’s always stressful when something goes wrong, we experienced some issues back in the days, there were some organizational hiccups. But when I look back at those moments now, I realize it’s all part of the process and it’s can make up for some funny stories to talk about!”

We’ve noticed that you have been playing quite a lot in France lately and that you just came back from playing the Mainstage at Electro Beach Music Festival a few weekends ago.

 Is there a particular reason you keep going back there? Why do you think your music resonates with your French fans in particular?



“It’s so amazing to see that France loves what we do. We get a lot of messages from French people, asking us when we are playing in France again and we can only say that we love to play in France. Being a part of Electro Beach Music Festival is something special for 2019, it’s such a sick festival!”

Let’s talk about your most recent release, your remix of Switch for Afrojack. How did you come to land this remix? How did you meet Afrojack personally?


Initially, the contact and request landed through our management. When hearing the original (which wasn’t released at that time yet) we immediately loved the vocals by Emmalyn, so it gave us the perfect opportunity to express ourselves in a new way. Soon after we’ve met in person with Nick, Afrojack, at a Dutch festival where we both played. Here we got to know each other, had a great talk about music and we kept in touch ever since.

Congratulations on the success of the new EP “II” on Axtone, we’ve already seen huge support for the tracks. ‘Lights’ is being used in the Ultra after-movie, Control got premiered by Axwell /\ Ingrosso at Creamfields 2018 last year and has since been played by Nicky Romero, Afrojack and by The Chainsmokers at Ultra Europe. Tomorrowland saw ALOK & KSHMR drop the track during weekend 1.

Individually, what would you say are your favourite tracks from the EP?



Maurice: For me, it’s “Control”, because it’s a record that I always believed in. We started this record around a few years ago and since then I was always eager to play this record live because I loved the vibe the record was generating during gigs. Back then it wasn’t the right time, and the track was also missing a final touch. Now that the record is 100% the way we want it to be, I can say I’m extremely happy with the result.

Robin: For me, I think they all are special and it’s not just about a specific song really. Like “Encore” is really something that’s expressive of my emotions. “Lights” for example is really about exploding sounds. “Control” is more like a Techno rave-ish kind of vibe which I love and “Remember” is more of that aggressive energy that we want to put at the end of our sets with a bit of melodic stuff mixed in. So yeah for me it’s really hard to say. In the end, we just tried to bring 4 songs to the EP that are unique and different in their own way.

You take a very special and different approach with your track “Encore”, tell us a little bit about the ideas and inspiration behind that track?

Robin: “Encore” is kind of the bonus track of EP “II” for which we took a more of a progressive and melodic techno approach. For me, this song is quite special and personal since I was going through a phase in life where I felt I needed to make some changes. I finished it a few weeks back up in the mountains in France. This was the first time that I started experimenting with doing vocals myself, and I might do that more often. The amazing video we’ve put out on YouTube was shot by FINALIZED in Iceland and it really compliments the vibe of the track.


Moving forward, Is there anything you else you guys are currently working on?



We are working on lots of new music for 2019. Several solo records, collabs and some new remixes. We actually premiered our forthcoming remix for Zack Martino & DYSON their single ‘Mood’ at Electrobeach. And of course, we will be premiering more new music in our Tomorrowland set.

If you had the choice to work with any other artist on a project, who would it be and why?



Oh wow, that’s a hard question! But a few names that are definitely on our dream list are electronic bands like, The Chemical Brothers, Faithless and Underworld. It would be a dream to work with these icons and pioneers in electronic music. As these artists have their unique sound and completely different approach in regard to music. We could only dream about combining our sound with these legends, it would definitely result in something different.  




As many will know, Axwell once described Magnificence as “the future”. As “the future of dance music”, what do you think of the current state of the dance music industry?



We see some growth in creativity going on, artists that are trying to make a difference right now and there are a lot of new and fresh guys creating amazing songs at the moment. The music scene keeps on evolving and we think that the music industry is at a point where a lot of new faces will get big pretty soon. 


How do you see your role in modelling the future of dance music?



We are just doing what we love, we did this over the past years, and we want to do this for the next coming 20 years as well. We will always make music that we can stand behind 100%. Obviously, it’s not just our role, but the role of the whole music industry to make the future of dance music something special and everlasting. To our opinion, it should go back to the time where it was all about the music and creativity as an artist instead of making a lot of money in a short period of time. You can say that this happened in the last years and everyone sees where it got all of us. Make music with love and passion and not because of the money, that’s where we can make a difference with all of us and start creating some real diamonds again.

You can listen to the new Magnificence EP below: