The Italian duo Hunter/Game have recently announced the Landside collaboration with the popular Icelandic band Kúra.

Kúra’s electronic dub work and Hunter/Game’s techno and house roots form deep, melancholic ambient music with an intense central groove, as Fanney Osk’s vocals interweave with melodic synths.

The Landside Part 1 EP is a visionary journey into ranges of uncharted soundscapes, merging abstract atmosphere with boundless emotion. Max Cooper’s remix of “Still There” is an eclectic vision of a deep flow, with vocals floating over a strong, dark baseline. Benjamin Damage’s remix of “Silence Before the Storm” is a straight techno tool, digging groove lines into ambient melodies and mellow vocals.

Landside recently announced two forthcoming EPs (released August 28 and September 11) debuting on Hunter/Game’s label, Just This, with incredible remixes by Max Cooper and Benjamin Damage on the first EP, Avatism and Extrawelt remixes on the following EP.

In advance of the collaboration’s stunning Landside Part 1 EPrelease on August 28, XLR8R spoke with Hunter/Game to learn more about the project, with the EP streamable in full below.

Talk to me about the background behind the Landside Project. Where did you guys all meet and when did you decide to start up the Landside Music project together? 

We actually first discovered Kúra through YouTube. We were a big fans of Lulu Rouge‘s work, and we heard their remix for the band. We wrote on Kúra’s fan page and we just started chatting. It looks like nordic people are really open-minded.

We then went to Copenhagen for a gig and met eachother face to face. It was the start of an amazing friendship. Since then, we have been working together on lots of things as Brynjar (one half of Kúra) actually has his own project Primal project on our Just/This Label.

What’s the motivation behind the project?

It started out as just a collaboration between Hunter/Game and Kúra, but than we spent a long time in studio together in Copenhagen. We were just so inspired by what each of us were doing; we loved their their nordic sounds and they appreciated our techno roots. The result is something new for both of us, so we decided to start a new band project together.

Is there any particular reason for the name Landside?

Simply by spending a lot of time in Denmark and Iceland, we got really inspired by nordic atmospheres and Icelandic landscapes. The Landside sound is really coming through the nature, and that is why we came up with this name.

As a collaboration, you’ve already produced two EPs. How long have you been working on this material?

Producing in a band project is a completely different than for techno. You have to sit down and take your time to get inspired to write down the Lyrics, record the vocals and sing on the track, and then you have to arrange it. It is also important to find the right mixing/mastering approach, and so everything takes literally ages. Plus we have been working between Italy, Denmark and Iceland. We actually almost have the album ready. It took around two years to have everything done properly.

You’ve got some wonderful remixers working on the project, including Max Cooper, Benjamin Damage, Extrawelt and Avatism. How did you choose which remixers to work with?

We were big fans to all of these amazing producers, and we really have been looking to them for the remixes. Every single track have its own vibe, and so we tried to select the originals for each producer to get more closer to their mood. The result is really more than what we could ever have expected. Everyone made something really special.