Released via Krafted, Sunset Garden is a new VA compilation curated by Paul Sawyer, shaped by his ongoing involvement with the Mini Challenge Clubsport racing series. Designed to soundtrack the slower moments after the speed and intensity of race day, it brings together a range of melodic, progressive and downtempo tracks from both established and emerging producers. It’s a record that sits quietly between worlds – built for calm settings, but crafted by artists used to moving floors.
With the compilation landing this week, we spoke to Paul about the compilation’s origins, his process as a curator, and how motorsport continues to intersect with music.
This was your first season in the Mini Challenge Clubsport. How did the experience on track find its way into the music of Sunset Garden?
One of the organisers is a big music fan (Rob Austin). Just from chatting before the series started last year, we realised we were into the same music and Rob invited me to put together the music for the social events at each race meeting that he called Sunset Garden. I jumped at the chance as it’s two of my favourite things brought together.
The Sunset Garden after-parties brought a different energy to the paddock. What did you want the music to give people after a day of racing?
When I put together the first set I was worried about people relating to my music as I’m not a mainstream DJ. I made sure I included music that people would recognise and used a few remixes of well-known tracks, which worked brilliantly. I found that everyone actually enjoyed being introduced to my sound so I carried on putting sets together in my usual style whilst being conscious of what the evening was about. It was winding down from a busy day, which for some can be very stressful with the pressure of racing and making sure the cars are working as expected.
The compilation moves between melodic house, progressive sounds, and downtempo moods. How did you find the balance between energy and atmosphere?
It was extremely important to make the album a journey, very much like the weekend of racing. I kept thinking about the different parts of the race weekend, which is very much like an event. Warming up with more downtempo tracks, building into a crescendo during the race with all the energy at its peak, very much like the peak of an event.
Krafted has always been open to hybrid styles. How do you see Sunset Garden extending or challenging the label’s direction?
It’s worked perfectly for our labels as we already release Krafted Chill albums once a year on Krafted Records, as well as Organic House. Sounds of Krafted with Melodic Techno and Krafted Underground releasing progressive House. It was like putting all of the labels together to create Sunset Garden.
It’s great as it has brought more producers to the labels who will also be releasing singles with us across the labels.
You’ve worked with big names across Krafted’s history. Was it important for Sunset Garden to introduce new artists as well?
Absolutely, that’s been really important to us. We all start somewhere and I am always grateful to the labels who gave me a chance early on. As long as the music is of the quality we look for, it doesn’t matter if the artist isn’t a big name.
Sunset is a strong image in the project. How do you work with visuals or moods when building a compilation like this?
I guess years of experience going to events helps with this. We’ve been to and organised so many events where the mood of the music captures the time of day moving into night. I love the transition and as a DJ can be really exciting building an atmosphere.
You keep that in mind when compiling music for that precise moment and visualise the imagery at the same time. Makes it easier when putting together the artwork for the album.
Krafted’s platform on BBC Radio 1 and Beatport has grown over the last years. How does a project like Sunset Garden fit into your long-term strategy for the label?
We learnt so much from being on Radio 1, the pressure when we first started was immense. Knowing so many people were going to be exposed to our music was the perfect platform to promote what we do and release. For Simon (Sinfield) and I, we wanted to make sure each set was a journey, which fits perfectly with the future Sunset Garden albums.
We will continue to release the album and bring together lots of producers (new and old). Personally, I love compilations when it comes to promotion. Having so many producers pushing one release just increases the exposure for the album.
Racing and electronic music are not obvious partners. Will you continue to connect these two worlds in your next projects?
It’s actually a great fit. I’ve been to many race meetings including Formula 1 and Le Mans where there’s some big after parties. It’s surprising how many people involved in racing are big music fans. Even our Clerk of the Course is a big Trance fan!
We have a lot of plans for this year and as one of my main sponsors is ICONYC, we are going to organising an after party at Brands Hatch in August as it’s a Mini Festival so we will be bringing a big guest to play on the Saturday evening.
I’ve also got two releases coming up that fuse the two Worlds together. One at the end of May with Simon Sinfield on Krafted Records called Parc Ferme and another that comes out end of June with Madison Palmer on Frequenza Records called Shelter In The Dark that coincides with the release of the F1 film featuring Brad Pitt. The imagery is centred around racing, so keep your eyes peeled!
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