Grum

Grum is a Scottish electro producer from Leeds, England, who emerged to considerable fanfare in 2009 with the productions “Runaway” and “Heartbeats” and a plethora of remixes.
Born Graeme Shepherd in Edinburgh, Scotland, he cites influences from the ’80s (Giorgio Moroder, the Human League, New Order) and the contemporary electro-pop scenes (Cut Copy, Daft Punk, Air), plus French house (Les Rythmes Digitales) and Italo disco (Kano). Grum released several remixes in 2008, but it wasn’t until 2009 that he first made a name for himself on the electro scene with a few productions of his own: “Runaway,” “Sound Reaction,” and “Heartbeats.” Released on the Glasgow label Heartbeats Records, these tracks got airplay from some of the top radio DJs in the United Kingdom, including Radio 1 show hosts Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Rob da Bank, and Jaymo & Andy George. In addition to the Radio 1 airplay, Grum was an Internet favorite championed by the taste-making blog Discodust and many others within the music blogosphere. Among these early productions, “Heartbeats” proved especially popular, showing up on several different Ministry of Sound mix albums. In the meantime, Grum released a bunch of remixes, most notably Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” Goldfrapp’s “Rocket,” Passion Pit’s “To Kingdom Come,” and Friendly Fires’ “Skeleton Boy,” and began establishing himself as a DJ on the international club scene. Grum’s debut album, Heartbeats, included his big single as the title track, and was released by Ultra in 2010.
While the album continued to soak up critical acclaim from underground publications, Grum continued as a trailblazer on the live circuit, culminating in main stage performance at 2012′s Creamfields and Ultra festivals alongside electronic heavyweights Tiesto, Fatboy Slim and Above & Beyond. The release of 2013 single “Everytime” began the rollout for sophomore album Human Touch, shortly followed by the Annie Mac-championed second single “The Theme.” After delaying the album’s release until April 2014, Shepherd produced two further singles in the year’s early months, “In Love” and “Tears.” Human Touch was once again delayed, this time until 2015; in its place Grum continued to ramp up the singles schedule, releasing “Raindrop” later in 2014 and a further seven tracks in 2015 (with three of these compiled into 2015 EP Trine).
By the end of 2015, and with no news on Human Touch, the mid- to late 2010s gave rise to a prolific singles output from the English producer, seeing the release of four singles in 2016, seven the following year, and four more in 2018. Among these were 2016′s “Under Your Skin” and 2017′s “Shout,” both of which retained Grum’s underground following by landing at number one on the Beatport progressive and trance charts. Eight years after the release of his debut, Grum announced that his sophomore album would be titled Deep State, and would arrive in 2018 on Anjunabeats. Much like Human Touch, this album was promptly postponed (this time until November 2019) and featured a slow singles ramp-up, including 2018′s “Never Have to Be Alone” and 2019 tracks “Stay” and “Tomorrow.” Luckily for the artist’s cult following, Deep State found its home on Anjunabeats in November 2019. A reworking of his trance roots within progressive modern frameworks, the album featured contributions from Natalie Shay, Dom Youdan and Jinadu. ~ Jason Birchmeier & David Crone