Chicane — Far from the maddening crowds. Story behind the superb Balearic album

At first, there were two of them. Leo Elstobb (Leo Zero) studied with Nick in an art college and after graduation both worked in their profession and saved up to get their own studios. Leo was doing remixes and designing leaflets for clubs, musical shops and amateur magazines; Nick commuted every day from London to Buckinghamshire where the office of the design company was. It wasn’t exactly to their liking and, as Nick later told, one day he reached boiling point.

He then thought “Life is a chain of risks”, and in the mid-nineties he founded his own musical label, which later released his single with Leo Right here, Right now, very life-affirming, very melodic with lots of keyboard—this was called handbag house in the north of the UK. The promo quickly became interesting to four giant record labels and the duo chose Deconstruction. It was a success, the record made it to the national chart, but all the fuss with the label was tiring. In short, it didn’t work out. The guys worked under the name Disco Citizens while Chicane was planned as a side project to release all the mishmash. It was one of those interesting mini albums released on the tiny label called Cyanide that introduced the future mega-hit, the anthem of quiet corners of the Balearic Islands, Offshore, which became the last record that Leo and Nick made together.