After his friendly split from V2 Records, Ian Pooley has set his goals anew – and they are higher than ever. Being one of the most respected producers in the genre of dance music today, the maestro of deep disco house has been working heavily over the past years to present a new longplayer that fully reflects his artistical development. Since his very first releases as a teenager in 1990, when Ian was a great admirer of Detroit techno masterminds like Derrick May, his musical skills have constantly progressed and evolved. From his first steps into house music, which are partly collected on his first album "The Times" (1996, Force Inc.) and his his first real artist album "Meridian" (1998, V2) as well as the highly acclaimed follow-up "Since Then" (2000, V2), Ian Pooley has made his way to the very top of international producers and DJ's. Many have asked for his skillful production and remix services, among them renowned artists like Dee-Lite, The Cardigans, Yello and Modjo – just to name a few. It is remarkable that during the many years of his musical work, Ian Pooley constantly followed his path and stayed focussed about his approach to music. With the success of his two longplayers not coming short, Pooley could have easily get lost in the world of remix and production assignments, listening to the many advises music business executives would give him for his "career". But for Pooley, the term career never meant very much aside from doing what he likes to do in order to get some joy out of his life. Nothing could really distract him from following his very personal musical interests and his unique way of blending solid house rhythms with various musical styles is a direct result from this philosophy. For his new album "Souvenirs", Ian Pooley took his studio to New Zealand where he spent a beautiful summer in the area of Piha. In a small condo with scenic view on the ocean, Pooley found the time to devote all his attention to the musical production. In this hide-away studio, the sketches for all songs of his new album were created, with Ian constantly gathering ideas and giving the tracks a rough layout. His computers' harddrive full of new music, Ian Pooley left New Zealand for Australia in order to program and mix his rough tracks into fine songs. Live musicians were frequent guests in the Sydney studio, playing and recording rhodes, sax, percussion and trumpets while vocalists added sensitive and strong voices to just produced Pooley tracks.

While the trademark sound of Ian Pooley has never changed, the sounds and melodies of his tracks and his songs today embrace an incredible broad range of music. Brazilian and latin rhythms can be found in Pooleys productions as well as tasteful hints to soul, jazz and blues or nostalgic quotes of Detroit techno or New Jersey house. "Souvenirs" shows a new kind of maturity in Ian's work. Compositions are more complex, arrangements are even more refined and there are only few tracks on "Souvenirs" which are not whole-hearted songs. Of course, it is a great honour for Ian Pooley to have some of his most admired artists featuring on this album: Marcos Valle, the Brazilian bossa nova mastermind, plays piano and guitar on "Sentimento" and even sings his own vocals to it. After years of chasing Valle's albums in every corner of the world, be sure that this track is something very, very special for Ian Pooley. Then, on "Hotel Boogie" you will witness the voice of one of todays most gifted blues and soul singer aound, Mr. Terry Callier himself. Terry's soft vocal touch adds up perfectly with the soulful, driving music of Ian Pooley, making it more than obvious that Pooley's unique ability to blend deep feelings with moving grooves has reached a complete new level. Yet, the purest of Ian's dancefloor skills are still alive, too. "Heaven" shows a true understanding for Disco feeling as it still can be found today on many dancefloors around the globe. And just like "Here We Go", it is massive crowd mover. Fans of Ian Pooley's previous album will want to give a warm welcome to Brazilian singers Rosanna & Zélia who didn't hesitate to put their beautiful, fragile voices on the even more beautiful hedonistic "Me leve". Many of the tracks on "Souvenir" are of spontanious origin, some of them catching moments in the hide-away studio of Piha, other sessions with talented Australian musicians, some giving reference to people met along the way or loved ones. Souvenirs.

In order to promote his music in the most independent way, Ian Pooley has recently established his very own Pooled record label. After the 12" releases, including an EP by Atlanta based house duo KemeticJust, Pooled now sees the release of Ian Pooley's next album. And just like Ian has involved musicians from many parts of the world in the work on his album – may they be famous or undiscovered talent waiting tables in a beach café – Pooled will be open to releases of known and unknown artists from all continents. On his DJ trips, Ian has always been on the lookout for new artists, gathering an respectable pool of talent. His idea of running Pooled is not to simply to release material of these new artists but to work with them as executive producer, adding his production knowledge and skills to their ideas. "With this album, I made an effort to focus a lot on my guests. It is about to put my attention to them, to what they are offering to me and to combine that with my very own production approach. Because of that, there is not one sound dominating 'Souvenirs', but a collection of indivual sounds, carefully tied together by my personal style." A philosophy that will most certainly be carried on with Pooled way beyond this album.