Grum

Grum emerged as a Scottish electro producer based in Leeds, England, when his 2009 tracks “Runaway” and “Heartbeats,” alongside numerous remixes, generated widespread attention. Born Graeme Shepherd in Edinburgh, Scotland, he drew from 1980s figures such as Giorgio Moroder, the Human League and New Order, alongside contemporary electro-pop acts like Cut Copy, Daft Punk and Air, as well as French house artist Les Rythmes Digitales and Italo disco act Kano. Although several remixes appeared in 2008, his own productions “Runaway,” “Sound Reaction” and “Heartbeats” arrived the following year on Glasgow’s Heartbeats Records and earned rotation from Radio 1 presenters Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Rob da Bank and Jaymo & Andy George. Music blogs, notably Discodust, further amplified his profile, while “Heartbeats” featured on multiple Ministry of Sound compilations. During this period he also delivered high-profile remixes of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” Goldfrapp’s “Rocket,” Passion Pit’s “To Kingdom Come” and Friendly Fires’ “Skeleton Boy,” and began performing as a DJ on the international club circuit. His debut album, Heartbeats, appeared on Ultra in 2010 and placed the title track at its center. Underground outlets continued to praise the record as Shepherd headlined major stages at the 2012 Creamfields and Ultra festivals alongside Tiesto, Fatboy Slim and Above & Beyond. The 2013 single “Everytime” signaled the approach of sophomore album Human Touch, which was previewed by the Annie Mac-supported follow-up “The Theme.” After postponements pushed the release to April 2014, additional singles “In Love” and “Tears” surfaced; further delay moved the album to 2015, during which “Raindrop” arrived in 2014 and seven more tracks followed in 2015, three of them collected on the Trine EP. With Human Touch still unreleased, Shepherd maintained a steady flow of singles—four in 2016, seven in 2017 and four in 2018—including the Beatport progressive and trance chart-toppers “Under Your Skin” and “Shout.” Eight years after his debut, he announced that Deep State would arrive on Anjunabeats in 2018, though the project was ultimately issued in November 2019. Preceding the album were the 2018 single “Never Have to Be Alone” and the 2019 tracks “Stay” and “Tomorrow.” Once released, Deep State reframed Grum’s trance foundations within contemporary progressive structures and included vocal contributions from Natalie Shay, Dom Youdan and Jinadu.