Hugh Hardie

Cambridge, U.K.-born Hugh Hardie started playing piano at the age of nine, but after learning scales and music theory based around classical music, he found himself naturally gravitating toward a jazz and soul style of playing. Studying music production at college, he spent his spare time developing his skills, mainly producing downtempo hip-hop inspired by the likes of Quantic, Bonobo, and RJD2, before immersing himself in the world of drum'n'bass. Drawing influences from acts such as High Contrast and Logistics, as well as his love of soul and jazz, Hardie started to develop his own style of lushly produced, rolling drum'n'bass. By 2014, he had been making his way into the scene DJ'ing and producing before catching the attention of Hospital Records. "Tearing Me Apart" became Hardie's first release on the label: it appeared on their 18th anniversary album, Hospital: We Are 18. That same year he collaborated with one of his influences, Logistics, on his album Polyphony, as well as appearing on the Hospital-released Etherwood summer mixtape. 2015 saw Hardie exclusively sign to the label and delivered a handful of tracks that appeared on various Hospital compilations throughout the year. Two years after catching the attention of the label, he released his debut EP, the soulful and jazzy-sounding City Soul. The rest of the year saw him DJ'ing across Europe and Canada, and starting work on his debut album. The resulting Colourspace, which featured collaborations with GLXY, Pola & Bryson, and Maverick Soul, dropped in mid-2017.