Lovebirds

Lovebirds is the solo project of German house producer Sebastian Döring, also known as Sebastian “Basti” Doering. He is based in Hamburg, and the project is associated with house, deep house, disco, jazzy house and electronic music.

Early work and Knee Deep

Before Lovebirds, Döring forms Knee Deep with Toddie Freese in 1998. That project becomes well known in the dance scene, leading to international DJ bookings and substantial remix work. Under the Knee Deep name, Döring remixes Jamiroquai three times, along with Bob Sinclair, David Morales, Brandy and others. He also wins the best remixer category at the 2002 German Dance Awards.

Lovebirds releases

The first Lovebirds release appears on Trax of Interest. After building up a body of unreleased material, Döring sends a CD to John Buckby, the owner of Winding Road Records and a mutual friend of Vincenzo. Lovebirds then issues a series of singles on Winding Road Records. The first is the Modern Stalking EP in 2007, a mid-tempo house release with tracks that draw on different styles. It gains strong support from the deep house and neo-disco scene, and Bill Brewster names it Single of the Month in iDJ magazine.

The second Winding Road release is Love On My Hands, a vocal track featuring Holly Backler. The third is In The Shadows, which follows in 2008. These releases establish Lovebirds as a project associated with melodic, well-produced house music with a retro feel.

Style and collaborations

Lovebirds is described as combining elements of 1970s and 1980s music with modern house production. Döring works with Holly Backler and Vincenzo, and also gathers material for releases on Teardrop Records, a label he launches with Vincenzo. He has tracks signed for a Freerange EP, and Ben Watt takes one of his tracks for a compilation. Artists including Prins Thomas, Ashley Beedle, Jimpster and Tom Middleton support his work, and labels such as Freerange and Buzzin Fly show interest in signing his tracks.