Untold Business

Mark Knight’s debut album is a joyous love letter to soulful house. “I always wanted to write an album like this,” the UK DJ, producer and Toolroom Records founder tells Apple Music “But for a long time, I didn’t feel I quite had the ability or the time and space to do it justice.” Citing everything from Chicago house originals Ten City to early UK garage label Nice ’N’ Ripe to nights at Ministry of Sound during the ’90s, watching DJs like Tony Humphries and Louie Vega, Knight has mined his formative influences to produce an album steeped in the history of house music. With vocals taking centrestage on each track, Knight has drawn together iconic collaborators from the history of dance music including Robert Owens and Mike City, with contemporary names including Gia, Shingai and Clementine Douglas. “When was the last time you were in a club and heard a verse?” Asks Mark. “With this album I wanted to make a point that great songwriting should be at the heart of dance music. It’s not all about hearing eight hours of instrumentals that are indistinguishable from each other in a club.” Discover the stories behind each track below.
Everything’s Gonna Be Alright (feat. Beverley Knight and the London Community Gospel Choir) “I wanted to write a record with a similar feel and sentiment to ‘Optimistic’ and ‘Testify’ by Sounds of Blackness. I really feel we’re missing a record with that sense of hope and a positive message but still that clubby feel. I knew I wanted the choir on it and then I sent it to Beverly and she was like ‘I need to be on this record’.”
Bit By Bit (feat. Chenai) “This is very influenced by (seminal US R’n’B producers) Jam and Lewis. Back in the day, even before I really knew what a producer was I like, ‘How are these guys on all of my favourite records?’ I wanted to try to make a modern-day version of something they’ve done with The S.O.S Band or Janet Jackson.”
Feel The Pressure (feat. Shingai) “This record really went round the houses. I played it to a few people at the majors and they really wanted it but I just couldn’t nail the vocal. Then I worked with Shingai and it just came together. I loved her track ‘Hey Hey’ with Dennis Ferrer and I knew if I worked with her I’d come away with something special. This one’s super-influenced by that 1980s’ funk-meets-house vibe.”
Love Is All We’re Living For (feat. Gia) “Gia is someone I’ve wanted to work with for a long time. She was on a record called ‘So Hooked On Your Lovin’’ by Selace, which was actually Felix [Buxton] from Basement Jaxx. I was on the phone to Felix, asking, ‘Who is this girl?’ Her voice is just amazing.’ It turned out she worked in the café at the studio where Felix was working and came in and just blew him away with her voice. I tracked her down on Instagram, she did the vocal and the hairs on the back of my neck just stood up. It’s inspired by an old Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King record I loved.”
You Saw Me (feat. Damon Trueitt) “This is really influenced by going out in London in the mid-’90s, and labels like Nice ’N’ Ripe. Damon was on ‘I Refuse’ by Somore—a classic garage record—and just nailed the vocal.”
It’s A Wonder (feat. Alex Mills) “This has an Afrobeat flavour and is inspired by the kind of soulful house people like Frankie Feliciano make. I heard Alex on a Kings Of Tomorrow track called ‘White Flag’ and absolutely loved her voice.”
10,000 (feat. Clementine Douglas) “Super ’80s influenced, with a sound I really fell in love with back then. Clem has done a lot of work for us at Toolroom and is known for singing on lots of drum ’n’ bass records too. But she’s not always used in a way that shows her strongest side. She’s super-soulful and I wanted to get that across on the track.”
Untold Business (feat. Gene Farris and Jafunk) “I think this is probably my favourite track on the album. It’s got that real ’80s flavour and is very reminiscent of stuff like Adonis that was around back then.”
Fire Burning (feat. Mike City) “This came out on BBE [Barely Breaking Even, UK label] originally. They wanted to work with me and I knew they did a lot with Mike City [US singer-songwriter behind tracks including ‘Heard It All Before’ by Sunshine Anderson and Brandy’s ‘Full Moon’) and I’d always wanted to work with him.”
Pass It Up (feat. Robert Owens) “I wanted to pay homage to all those late-’80s house records I fell in love with originally, from people like Ten City. We made the whole thing on analogue gear, then who else to get to do the vocal but Robert Owens. He was so humble but it was amazing working with another house music legend.”
All 4 Love (feat. Tasty Lopez) “‘All 4 Love’ came out last year [2020] and is probably my biggest radio hit yet. I didn’t expect it but it just went bananas and all of a sudden was on the Radio 1 A-list and getting millions of streams. It helped reinforce that doing this album was a good idea.”
If It’s Love (feat. Laura Davie and The Melody Men) “I remember getting to play this in clubs in San Diego and Helsinki just before the pandemic struck. It worked really well so I was devastated I wasn’t going to get the chance to play it out more but luckily it blew up online.”
Tonight (feat. Chenai and Mr. V) “I used to love records in the ’80s that had talking in them. You’d get these tracks where a guy would pick up the phone and go, ‘Hey, babe. What are you doing tonight? Are you coming over?’ And I know it sounds heinously cheesy, but I wanted to see if I could write a record that had that kind of telephone conversation in it, a guy talking to a girl, on a dance record.”