Leon Vynehall joins Running Back with Rojus

The eight-track release is inspired by the courtship rituals of birds of paradise.

UK house producer Leon Vynehall has joined Gerd Janson’s Running Back for a conceptual, album-length double-pack.

As RA reports, Rojus was conceived after a gig at Studio 9 in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius two years ago, and takes the form of a record of music sequenced “as if it were a club night.”

“The following day I missed my flight home and ended up spending an extra day, which gave me a chance to explore the city with my friend Linus, who took me to the Contemporary Art Centre,” Vynehall says. “It was there I spotted a book named Rojus, that Linus told me translated as ‘Paradise.’ The word and striking cover of the book stuck in my mind.”

“A few days after returning home, I turned on to a National Geographic documentary named Designed To Dance, explaining the courtship rituals of birds of paradise. As I watched, I jokingly began drawing similarities between these birds’ attempts to captivate and impress the opposite sex with dance, and the way strangers try to attract one another in clubs and interact on the dance floor.

“This gave me the idea of creating a record of functional club music, sequenced as if it were a club night, from doors to closing, using samples of these birds of paradise and their habitat. Thus, Rojus.”

Rojus is Vynehall’s most significant release since 2014’s Music For The Uninvited LP, which landed on Martyn’s 3024 label. It marks the second time Vynehall has worked with Running Back owner Janson – last year he was picked to contribute to Janson’s Musik For Autobahns 2 compilation.

There’s no release date for Rojus yet, but you can check the tracklist and revisit Leon Vynehall’s FACT mix below.