'New Love': Kloyd Reveals Fresh Music and Talks Through Her Creative Process

Composer Kloyd is on the rise with the release of her latest album, New Love. Having already made a name for herself, we sat down with the artist to find out more about her methods

Kate Lloyd, better known as Kloyd, is one of the most important up-and-coming producers to hit the scene in recent times. Her sound, a complex yet easy listen, is filled with depth and cloud-touching moments that permeate the room.

Kloyd has released her highly anticipated mixtape, New Love.

In 2024, the composer revealed her debut EP, Chapters, and later, Høurglass, featuring some of the most talented vocalists we’ve heard in a while. These vibrant choices led to a series of extraordinary singles, including a remix project. Today, she drops her long-awaited third record, New Love. Following in the footsteps of an imaginative body of work, her celestial track record continues.

Kloyd seems like an obvious choice for your artistic persona. Did you consider other pseudonyms?

“Ha, yeah you know it’s one of those things that I have questioned keeping. My friends have called me Kloyd as a nickname for years, so when I started to release music, I figured I would just roll with it. I’ve floated different artist name ideas and I find they’re already in use, or it’s just too deep into the project now to switch up. One thing I do like about it, is that it’s definitely an alter ego to myself.”

Your upcoming album, New Love, will be released on 26 June. What was the guiding philosophy behind the project?

“For a long time I was quite heartbroken and low prior to making this record. I was struggling with feeling, like I wasn’t enough and that love was out of reach.

Over time, I started to shift my mindset and changed my negative lens. Around the time I began writing New Love, I also met someone and found I was opening up to love again, although with a lot of fear and hesitation. The record is about this journey. It’s still melancholic and weary in parts, but it reflects when I started to feel a bit more open to beauty and romance again, which I hope provides some kind of light comfort to those who are — or have — endured the same battles.”

When did production on the album begin, and how long was the overall process?

“There are fragments and track ideas that I’d started maybe a year before conception, but it was properly born around two years ago. That’s when I had the title of it written down and knew what I was setting myself out to make. It was an all encompassing process. There are a lot of tracks that didn’t make the cut, especially in the earlier days of producing it.

I was still very much in this weird space between feeling low and then feeling more positive in life, so I had to be a bit ruthless with myself in terms of not straying into the dark too much. “Far From Us” is one of those tracks that I was making in the earlier days of New Love, which is definitely one of the most melancholic, it has this sense of longing. It was around summer last year that the final 8 tracks were solidified, and I spent another few months getting them to a place I felt happy with.”

The pacing of every one of your tracks is incredible; it keeps listeners engaged, and there’s a sense of movement and journey within each song. Can you walk us through your blueprint for composing?

“Wow, thank you that’s such a nice compliment! I’d probably say a lot of that comes from the drum production which helps to create that movement — keeping it textured and fluid. I remember watching Rusko’s producer masterclass years ago, and he said, if you have the drums grooving completely on their own, then it’s a good tune already, which is something I have tried to embody in my own work.

I play around a lot with sound design, so reversing stuff everywhere — foley grabs that become percussive — all sorts, just to send the music into an atmosphere that makes it come alive. I have a tendency for a track to unfold as it goes on compositionally, I get carried away with it. It’s like I approach each one with an emotional message, and then everything I lay down melodically is what I’m feeling in those moments. In “Nothing Could’ve Made Me”, it just suddenly switches up into that fairground-ish piano/flute part, which was me conveying this sense of freedom and fun and a big ‘whatever’ to the people who had hurt me in the past.”

What part of your setup is non-negotiable, and why?

“Probably my Nord, I’ve grown to get so much out of it now in terms of melodic sounds, they’ve become kind of a staple for my sound for now.”

Stream Kloyd’s earlier work, including Hourglass and Chapters.

Høurglass feels sonically different from what we’ve heard from New Love. What changed between then and now? Was it inspiration or something else?

“Yeah, a mixture of things. I think more so that I grew a bit more confident by New Love in following my own intuition. I barely sent any of it out for feedback until it was pretty much done, and if anyone did give me unsolicited feedback, I disregarded a lot of it — (not to be rude) — I just wanted to trust myself in what I was doing without any external input this time round. I definitely leant into more of my wider influences too, and kept the production more so in the box. Høurglass still has some of that trip hop feeling to it, but I was also in a very different place when I made that EP. I was looking at the world with a different lens.”

Are there any limitations you face in the lab, and do they push you to be more creative?

“For sure, I’d say one is that I’m not a singer and I like to incorporate vocals in my work. So I’m hearing all these ideas and I can’t get them down straight away, which is probably why I sample a lot of vocals instead. I quickly hear some form of a vocal in the track, which then often ends up staying there as it kind of works.

Same with playing guitar — I don’t play one — but I use that sound all the time, ha! I really wanted an amped guitar sound, and because I don’t have an electric guitar or play one… I manipulated my Nord enough to try and emulate the sound of one, which ended up sounding not much like one, but also created a weird distortion that I was like okay, yeah this is interesting. I ended up using that on a few tracks on New Love.”

How late do you stay up perfecting a track, and which song gives you sleepless nights?

“Not overly late these days, not as much as I used to. I enjoy my sleep too much! But yeah, I can lose many hours arranging tracks. Arranging is a real head scratcher for me. “Far From Us” was probably the most head scratcher one. The first drafts of it are very different to how I finished it — I reworked that a few times. It was challenging to get it how I wanted it, but I’m happy with how it turned out!”

Are there any instruments, plugins, or hardware that have changed the way you compose?

“Not to harp on about it, but my Nord — this record was the first time I experimented with it and I pushed as much as I can get out of it. You can manipulate sounds built into it so much that it’s actually a great synth if you want it to be! It helped me to keep compositional limitations, so the music sounded sonically on par. Also, the Prophet bass in the Arturia suite. I can often start with just drums and when I add that bass, it automatically grounds the tune into a direction I love. It’s very subby and deep, so any melodic layers I start adding, will usually start to feel light in contrast to what’s happening in the drums and bass.”

Your work is emotionally impactful, yet technically exact. How do you balance your sound to feel so complete?

“Oh thank you! I think making music that feels honest and human is really important to me, even though it’s electronic. I try to channel as much of the inward feelings I have into the music. With the production, I’m not aiming for perfection, it’s raw and a bit odd in places, and that’s intentional. I think I’m just making creative decisions that are bringing those emotions to life — but ensuring it still travels and feels like a song, holding its own narrative.”

How important is curating a tracklist to you, and how do you approach sequencing?

“Yeah, really important! The sentiment runs throughout New Love and the opener and closer tell a story, but I’d say it’s not a track-by-track record where it unravels as a direct journey, so to speak, but the arc within it is definitely purposeful, which came together in ordering quite quickly.”

Who is your most trusted critic, and what’s the best piece of advice they’ve given you?

“My mate Cal. He doesn’t make much music, but he could if he wanted to. He’s one of those people who’s a natural creative and just gets it. He has two! He says, “Churn them out like Calibre”. We’re both big fans of him and his discography is extensive. And he also says, “Think like Ainsley Harriott”. Minimal ingredients… so, aiming to keep your sound sources simple!”

You’ve got a string of shows coming up. What can listeners expect from a live Kloyd performance, and how do you prepare?

“I want the productions to feel alive and immersive — live drums, vocals, and me. Preparation will be lots of rehearsals so I can be present at the shows and calming myself if I can. I get nervous going on stage.”

Upcoming Live Performance Dates

10 October 2026 – Cambridge Junction, Cambridge, England
20 August 2026 – Glanusk Estate, Llangattock, Wales
5 September 2026 – Larmer Tree Gardens, Tollard Royal, England

Streaming Options and Buy Vinyl

You can stream Kloyd‘s new mixtape New Love on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube (above), Deezer, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud. You can also purchase a copy on vinyl directly from the Anjuna Music Store.

Tracklist and Features

New Love – 4:29
Saturated (feat. Tonguetied) – 3:16
Everything (For You)(feat. Tonguetied) – 4:53
Stockholm Song – 3:45
Nothing Could’ve Made Me (feat. Winifred) – 4:09
Girl – 4:30 (Feat Alexa Povey)
Far From Us – 4:26
Kate’s Theme – 3:56

Guitarists: Scott Nelson and Duncan Grant

Stanisland Magazine