Releasing your debut album is always a milestone. But for P.O.U, it’s also a checkpoint in a process they’ve been running since day one: finish the work, get it on a sound system, and move forward.
With Breathe—out now on their own Of Us Records imprint—the UK/Ibiza-based duo brings together a wide-angle view of progressive and melodic house: deep club moments, emotional breakbeats, and vocal-led collaborations with the likes of Jamie Wiltshire, Emilie Rachel, and Miss Monique. The album isn’t precious or overcooked—it’s deliberate, road-tested, and shaped by real-time reactions from festival crowds and late-night dancefloors.
P.O.U – Breathe is out now via Of Us Records. Stream here
In this interview, the duo reflects on the habits that keep them shipping work, the balance of hustle and rest, and why no track is ever a waste—so long as you keep the momentum moving forward.
How do you finish a track or project and let it go—even if it didn’t turn out exactly the way you pictured?
Finishing a track, especially one that didn’t turn out exactly how we envisioned, is one of the hardest but most essential parts of being a music producer. We’ve learned that perfection is a moving target. There’s always one more tweak, one more mix adjustment, one more synth layer.
But at some point, we have to recognise when a track needs to be wrapped up. It’s at this point we would normally bounce it out, give it a studio master and take it out to road test in the clubs. Crowd reaction and hearing it on a sound system is the litmus test.
Every finished piece, even the imperfect ones, stacks up into your evolution as an artist. And funnily enough, the ones you weren’t sure about often end up resonating with people in ways you never expected. So, we focus on completion, not perfection. Finish it, road test it, learn from it, and move forward. That’s how the real momentum builds.
After a big project wraps, what’s your process for clearing your head and resetting?
Spending long hours listening and producing in the studio can take it out of us. The process is intense, mentally and emotionally. But when we finally finish something we believe is special, there’s this surge of euphoria… that excitement, that rush. All we want is for people to hear it and to see how it moves a crowd when we play it out.
But after looping the same sections for hours, our ears — and our brains — need a proper reset. Taking a break isn’t just helpful, it’s essential. Step away, recharge, let the track breathe a bit. Honestly, for us, that usually means a cold pint or two and a cheeky Nando’s; nothing fancy, just a bit of grounding before diving back in.
Have you ever dragged a project out for too long and felt it slow down everything else?
To be honest, no, we never have that problem. For us, it’s no longer than a few days. If we are still not happy, then it goes on to the Hard Drive with the project files into the ever-growing list of Unfinished works.
There have been many times we have revisited tracks after long periods of time and thought – ahh we like that sample, let’s use it on our current demo or we have updated an old track with new drums and bass sounds.
What helps you wrap something up without getting stuck in endless revisions?
Yeah, this one’s always a challenge. It’s so easy to get lost in edits and endless revisions — tweaking hi-hats, second-guessing the arrangement, chasing that mythical “perfect” mix. But we’ve learned to focus on completion over perfection. A track doesn’t need to be flawless to be powerful. Sometimes it just needs to be done.
What helps us is setting a mental deadline: finish it, road test it, and let it live. If it hits — great. If not, you learn something and carry that into the next one. And if a track just isn’t clicking no matter what, we don’t force it anymore.
We park it, move on, and reset, usually with a walk where the studio is based in Sheffield as we back onto the Peak District National Park – the perfect place for fresh air and of course a country pub for a pint. Sometimes stepping away is what gives the perspective you need to move forward without getting stuck.
How do you make space for new ideas once a major project is off your plate?
The best thing about being out touring and playing week in and week out is that we are never short of ideas, always sampling, making notes, and recording voice memos with ideas, melodies and lyrics. There is never enough space, but we try to carve out time for some well-earned R&R.
Ryan: I’ve been away since the album dropped, starting in India together as P.O.U. It was an epic tour, hitting cities like Goa, Bangalore, and Mumbai. After that, I headed to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and Japan, playing a few solo gigs before taking a proper holiday in Japan where I met up with my girlfriend.
We explored Osaka and Kyoto, took high-speed boat rides, indulged in Kobe beef, met a bowing deer (check my Instagram!), and visited Nintendo World.
Darren: I kept things classic and cosy, taking the family to Cleethorpes, a seaside town in Northeast England, for a relaxing break and some proper Fish & Chips!
Is there a habit or mindset that helps you move on cleanly without losing your creative momentum?
Coming up with new ideas has never really been a challenge for us. Darren, especially, is a live wire; even on a slow day, he’s bursting in with a new concept or plan. Creativity seems to be in endless supply.
One of the best parts of touring and playing shows week in and week out is how naturally inspiration flows. We’re constantly surrounded by new sounds, new places, and new people.
Whether it’s something we hear on the radio, a passing phrase from someone in a crowd, or just a moment that sparks something, we’re always sampling, jotting down notes, and recording voice memos packed with melodies, lyrics, and half-formed ideas. It’s a never-ending well to draw from.
Sometimes, just a snippet of something we’ve heard will trigger a whole new track or inspire us to rework it into a fresh P.O.U version.
This year, we’ve also made a conscious effort to become more mindful in all areas of life. We both use the Headspace app regularly, and honestly, it’s been a game-changer. It’s helped us stay grounded and balanced, even with the whirlwind pace of everything else.
What advice would you give someone who keeps rushing into new work before actually finishing what’s in front of them?
Make music you’d play out. Not what fits a genre. Not what you think a label wants. Not to mimic some DJ’s style. If it doesn’t move you, it won’t move anyone else. Road test your tracks. Once a tune is playable, play it. Drop it in a set. Or pass it to a DJ who will. Nothing reveals the truth like a club system and a dancefloor – it’s feedback.
Don’t wait for hindsight to tell you what worked. Get ears on it early. Play it to friends, colleagues, even your Granny!
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
