LOWT Takes Us Into The Night With Club Etiquette Volume 2

From the Scottish Highlands to the dancefloor in Chicago, LOWT is building a world of UK garage, future garage, breakbeat house and bass-heavy electronica that refuses to stay in one lane. His latest project, Club Etiquette Volume 2, is a sprawling 17-track journey through euphoria, melancholy, late-night energy and the quieter moments that come once the club doors close.

Released independently through creative agency Minsu Manor, the album expands on the world established by the first Club Etiquette release, bringing together relentless breakbeats, deep bass, atmospheric textures and unexpected ambient and cinematic passages. Rather than chasing a collection of singles, LOWT has built something intended to be experienced as a whole — almost like a whole night out, moving from the anticipation of the first track through increasingly euphoric highs before eventually winding down into something more reflective.

With influences spanning Overmono, Fred again.., Burial, Jamie xx, Bicep, Joy Orbison and Ross From Friends, LOWT’s approach is rooted in club culture but equally suited to those solitary 3am headphone moments. And having already taken his music from the Highlands to Chicago, there’s a growing sense that geography is becoming less and less relevant to where this project can go.

We caught up with LOWT to talk about building Club Etiquette Volume 2, finding the balance between euphoria and melancholy, refusing to be boxed into a genre, and why the way you rave might just be about to change.

Club Etiquette Vol. 2 is a 17-track project built to feel like a complete journey rather than a collection of singles. Where did you want to take listeners across the record?

I wanted the album to feel like an experience, I think i approached the structure intentionally to almost feel like a whole night out in itself. There’s an energy to the beginning where you’re getting into it, things become progressively more intense and euphoric, and then eventually you reach that point where the night starts to wind down and everything becomes a bit more reflective.

I didn’t want every track to be fighting for your attention or trying to be the biggest moment. Some of the quieter tracks are just as important because they give the bigger moments more impact. The idea was to take you through different emotions without necessarily telling you what you’re supposed to feel.

Hopefully, by the end of it, it feels less like you’ve listened to 17 separate tracks and more like you’ve actually been somewhere.

There’s a real tension in the album between euphoria and melancholy, heavy club energy and quieter moments. Is that contrast something that reflects how you experience electronic music yourself?

Definitely. I think that contrast is probably one of the biggest reasons I’m drawn to electronic music in the first place. Some of my favourite moments are when something can feel euphoric and slightly sad at the same time.

There’s something really powerful about hearing a huge track in a club and feeling completely uplifted, but then hearing that same kind of sound through headphones at 3am can suddenly feel quite introspective. I like that electronic music can exist in both places.

I think Club Etiquette Vol. 2 naturally ended up reflecting that. I’m not interested in making something that stays at one emotional level for an hour. I want there to be moments where you’re moving, moments where you’re just listening, and moments where the two become blurred together.

You pull from UK garage, house, breakbeat, jungle, ambient and even film scores. How do you bring all those influences together without the project losing its identity?

I think the identity comes more from how I make music than from the genre it happens to sit within. I’ve never really wanted LOWT to be restricted to one sound, because the things that inspire me don’t exist within one genre either.

I can take something from a garage record, something from a film score, a rhythm from jungle or a texture from ambient music and put them together if they create the feeling I’m looking for. I’m more interested in atmosphere, rhythm and emotion than making sure everything fits neatly into a genre box.

There are definitely common threads running through the album — the drums, the bass, the darker atmosphere and the focus on creating a feeling — so even when the tracks move around stylistically, they still feel like they belong to the same world.

You’ve described LOWT’s sound as music that can work in a packed club or through headphones at 3am. What’s your ideal setting for someone hearing Club Etiquette Vol. 2 for the first time?

Good question! I think ideally I’d love someone to hear the whole thing in one sitting, maybe late at night, headphones on, just sitting back and switching off from outside noise without jumping around from track to track. It’s a proper journey and I feel like you’ll go through all sorts of emotions on a full play-through and get lost in it. The start and the end are very different but it will all make sense and arrive at the right moments.

The club is obviously a huge part of the music, and there are tracks on the album that I’d love to hear played ridiculously loud in a room full of people. But there’s another side to the record that I think reveals itself when you’re alone with it.

If you’re listening at 3am, walking home from somewhere, driving, lying in bed — anywhere where you can properly get lost in it — I think that’s probably the ideal first listen. Then, once you know the record, hearing those same tracks in a club is a completely different experience.

I think the best electronic music can belong to both worlds, and that’s what I wanted Club Etiquette Vol. 2 to do.

From the Scottish Highlands to playing further afield in places like Chicago, the LOWT project has already travelled a fair distance. What feels different about where you’re at now with this release?

I think the biggest difference is that I have a much clearer understanding of what LOWT actually is now. When I started the project, I was experimenting a lot and figuring out what I wanted the sound and identity to be. Club Etiquette Vol. 2 feels like the point where those ideas have really started to come together.

Playing in places like Chicago from the Highlands is something I’m genuinely proud of, because it reminds me that the music doesn’t have to come from anywhere specific to find an audience - my upbringing is a whole world apart from growing up somewhere like Chicago but there’s still people who have the exact same tastes and willingness to actually listen. The thought of my ideas from a little highland studio can reach anywhere and still land has always been a big motivation for me and stopped me from getting too bogged down if there’s not a lot happening where I’m based.

With this release, I feel less like I’m trying to prove what LOWT can be and more like I’m just showing people what it already is. There’s still loads I want to explore, but this feels like a proper statement of where the project is right now