As 2019 drew to a close, Loraine James found herself at a crossroads. Buoyed by the success of her breakthrough album for Hyperdub, ‘For You And I’, which DJ Mag named its favourite album of 2019, she was left juggling the demands of an increasingly busy touring schedule with her day job as a teaching assistant, at a primary school in London.
“I was shattered because I would finish the school week and then have to go to the airport or travel somewhere in the country for a show,” she tells us. “I’d come back late on Sunday and then be back at work on Monday. I’d never felt so tired in my life at that point, and it was continuing into the first few months of 2020. I was close to burning out.”