Amsterdam natives Maarten Smeets and Lars Dales, aka Dam Swindle, unveil their third long-player with the release of a new track, the first to be shared from the upcoming album, ‘Open’ - out on 30 May 2025 via Heist Recordings.

The new album sees the acclaimed duo dive far beyond the deep sonic waters they’re most known for, exploring lower tempos, synthwave, hip-house, and ambient across fourteen tracks. With a gestation period that traces back several years, ‘Open’ is their most intimate and personal body of work thus far, birthed during a time of self-reflection away from touring and personal transformation as individuals.

“We felt the need to tell a very personal story through our music as a translation of our personal development in the past years. We also wanted to make music without a specific goal in mind; We simply wanted to create. By taking away the grid of dance music and any expectations of what a Dam Swindle song should sound like, the creativity started to flow naturally with songs in many different styles and tempos. The result is an album that feels refreshing and uplifting and still very much true to the heart and soul of our sound.” - Dam Swindle, January 2025.

While the trademark Dam Swindle four-to-the-floor beats are still ever-present on tracks like ‘The Present Is Always Perfect’, ‘I Need You’, and ‘Is This Love?’, it’s the gentle waves of synths on opener ‘Home’, the contemplative piano chords of ‘Bloom’ featuring Joep Beving, and the lo-fi ambience of ‘It’s Okay, I Can Wait’ that showcase a melancholic, ethereal sensibility previously uncharted by the duo. Collaborations with vocalists such as NYC’s Haile Supreme on ‘Not Enough’ and Neo-soul singer Faye Meana on ‘Girl’ expertly find room in between the dancefloor and home listening sessions, and a clear standout on the LP is the title cut where message-heavy rapped vocals from UK artist Samson ebb and flow amongst iridescent grooves.

Under the helm of Maarten and Lars’ adept A&R, their Heist imprint has become a beloved home for house heads of both schools old and new, platforming some of dance music’s biggest names from Cinthie to DJ Sneak as well as the musical dawnings of artists such as Kassian and Makèz. The Dam Swindle alias has achieved house music royalty-like status across a storied 15-year career that includes two critically lauded full-lengths, collaborations with the likes of Tom Misch and Kerri Chandler, and a globetrotting touring schedule. This album stands as their most profoundly personal work of art to date, and they can’t wait to share it with you.


Open

Buy here!

Run, run, run

🎧| Dj & Producer
🔊| From House to Minimal
📍| Campinas-$p
📮| Demosrz1@gmail.com

Avatar by Cindy Sherman
Header by Bill Viola

Heist Recordings was founded by Dam Swindle as a means to gain full control over their own releases, and to create a stage for likeminded musicians to showcase their music. From the first release on, Dam Swindle’s “Break up to make up” EP in summer 2013, Heist has been a go to label for proper underground house and electronic music. Now, nearly 40 releases and 5 compilations in, Heist has brought forward artists like Frits Wentink, Nebraska, Adesse Versions, Fouk, Kassian, Nachtbraker and Alma Negra and continues to search for new talent, with Lars & Maarten fully focused on the A&R side of the label. 

Up till 2016, remixes on the label have been solely done by other original Heist artists on the yearly “Round up EP”, where the remixer and remixee get connected by the luck of the draw and a limited edition double pack is put out. After that, Maarten and Lars decided it was time to add remixers to the EP’s as well, which saw interesting collaboration, expanded the label family with names like Matthew Herbert, Tom Noble, Pépé Bradock, Ge-ology and Byron the Aquarius. 

In 2023 we've celebrated 10 years of Heist Recordings. The year showed a whole batch of releases by new artists like Byron the Aquarius, Amy Dabbs and Cinthie and by Dam Swindle themselves.

I hope you enjoy my music. I also put film scores I've composed on here as well, check them out! Thanks everyone.

www.willsullivan.me