Miss Divine has been gracing the decks of clubs in the UK, Europe and across the world for some years now and is without doubt one of the busiest DJs on the Defected roster. Now, after no small amount of anticipation, she's just about to drop her very first studio effort, a collaboration with up-and-coming producer Jon Kong entitled 'No Grace' - which was snapped up by The Shapeshifters' Nocturnal Groove imprint. We caught up with her to get the lowdown on the track...

So, your production cherry has finally been popped…how does it feel?

It’s been a long time coming so to finally have a track finished and signed to a label, I’m over the moon.


Tell us about the track…what was the inspiration behind it and how did you put it together?

I jumped in the studio as soon as I got back from the opening parties in Ibiza so we worked 'No Grace' around the sound that is very dominant in the season right now. The Space terrace sound especially stuck out for me.  The track is quite simple; once we got the bassline going the rest fell into place and we tried to make it a fun record. We used Abelton to cut up the vocal and the in house synthesisers in Logic for the layered bass. We spent a long time arranging it and for me that was the fun part, watching the track grow in front of my eyes.

In the studio with Jon, who does what? How does the relationship work?

Jon is an up and coming producer and is so talented. I’m not going to lie and say that I know my way around Logic like a true  professional because I don’t, 12 months ago I could only make a 4 bar loop and couldn't get past that, but now I can sit and play the keyboard, arrange a track and bring inspiration to the table.  It’s the same with anything in life, the more you do something the better you are at it.  Jon has a lot of patience because he was teaching me techniques I didn’t know about before, but by the end of it I was kicking him out the chair and  he was guiding me.  It was a fun project to work on.



It’s been signed to the Shapeshifters’ Nocturnal Groove label…did you have them in mind when you made it?

No way…I’m still in shock! Haha!  I sent it to Simon Marlin to see what he thought of the track, I was in Miami at the time and he called to say he loved it and would like to sign it.  First time in my life I was speechless!  It’s a huge deal to get your first record signed to such an established label.  Nocturnal Groove has some great records on the label and ‘No Grace’ fits nicely in its place.

It’s a very popular sound at the moment, that techy, rolling style that people like Joris Voorn are championing. Why do you think it’s such an ‘in’ sound?

I think it’s a sound that goes right across the board and that’s why its so popular at the moment.  Joris Voorn has defiantly opened a gateway and it’s a positive direction that House music is going into right now, especially over the summer with all the festivals going on around the globe.  I like to think of it as a universal sound.  It doesn't belong to any one country and everyone is playing it at some point in their sets or another, whether its warm up , peak time or at an after party.

Are you working on anything else at the moment?

Yes we've got some exciting stuff coming up and remix offers have been flooding in.  We are working on a vocal track next so watch this space!

What else have you got going on, gig-wise?

Well this is the first summer in 5 years that I haven’t spent the whole season on Ibiza and I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out, but my feet haven’t touched the ground all summer.  I’ve already toured Brazil & Indonesia and had gigs in Dubai, Miami and most of Europe which have been amazing.  I’m playing the Defected Closing party at Pacha soon which I’m super-hyped about and also a little sad because it means I won’t be back on the island till next year.  I’ve also got my first London gig in months at Broke nightclub on Saturday 16th October. It’s a new club with a lot of hype around it at the moment.  I’m playing with my all time hero DJ Spen so I’m looking forward to an epic evening!

Interview by Greg Sawyer

No Grace is out 22nd September on Nocturnal Groove - click to listen & pre-order