Ploy, the alias of UK producer Sam Smith, has spent the best part of a decade building one of the most distinctive voices in British club music, a sound rooted in relentless percussion and stripped-back functionality. Having first emerged from Bristol’s post-dubstep and bass scene in the mid-2010s with his debut EP Sala One Five on Hessle Audio, Ploy has since released a slew of intricate records including 2020’s Unlit Signals for L.I.E.S. Records and his more recent It’s Later Than You Think record via Dekmantel. Along the way, Ploy founded Deaf Test, turning a lockdown club night into a label for some of his most refined work, including They Don’t Love It Like We Do.
Ploy’s evolution continues on Glizzy, his second EP for Dekmantel and a return to essentials, four tracks of house music that lets the groove to do the talking. From the understated percussive dynamism of opener “Glizzy” to the melodic pull of “Global Underground” and the heavy, swung house of the EP’s two-track B-side, it’s a record crafted with the dancefloor firmly in mind. As Ploy approaches ten years of the project, we caught up with him to chat about Glizzy, his process in the studio and how his sound has evolved over the years.
With 2026 marking 10 years of the Ploy project, how do you personally define the throughline across everything, from Sala One Five to Unlit Signals to now, given how different those bodies of work sound from one another?
The throughline for anything I make is my own enjoyment of the process. I chase that feeling of elation I first had when I finished my first track. If the studio session is making me feel something close to that then I pursue it. If not then I explore until I find it again.
2024’s They Don’t Love It Like We Do was described as a genuine surprise for a lot of people who knew you from the Bristol bass scene. What did that reaction feel like from the inside, and did it change how confident you felt in the direction you’d chosen?
It didn’t feel like that big of a shift away from anything else I had been making over the years, honestly. On the Hessle EP in 2016, the track that got played the most was probably “Move Yourself” – that was basically a deep house track. “Intrigued By The Drum” on Timedance was a minimal percussive house track. There’s been pretty straight forward 4×4 music on the majority of my records, it felt like a development of those styles as opposed to a totally new direction. I wasn’t really too aware of any reaction either, the record sold well so that was great.
Glizzy is your second EP on Dekmantel. What’s different about how you approached this one compared to your first appearance on the label and has your relationship with the label shaped how you make music for it specifically?
It was a similar process for these as the LP. As always, I tried to strip them back as much as possible. Possibly a bit more refined than the first record. The label lets me do what I want really, they don’t try to influence the direction.
The EP can be described as straight up, no frills house music that oozes quality by doing the simple things well. After years of more experimental work, was there a deliberate discipline in stripping things back to that functionality, or does it come naturally to you now?
Functional club music has to be finely tuned for it to work well, I enjoy that process of writing dance music. With more experimental styles specific technical details can be lacking but compensated by ideas or vibe, once you strip those away the music is laid bare to its essentials. Once you know how to do that effectively you can then start building back on top of those foundations, that’s how I’m approaching that process at the moment. It’s still very much a work in progress though, getting there slowly.
Track A2 on the EP, “Global Underground”, gives off melodic blasts and an unrelenting groove. Where do you start the production process with a track like this?
This one specifically came from a studio session using the Waldorf Iridium + and a Prophet 5 synth. I spent an afternoon tweaking and recording arpeggiators and pads, chords, basses etc. I selected a few sounds that fit the style I was aiming for and started building the track around the main arp riff.
You’ve said your music is made first and foremost for DJs. When you’re building a track like “Yesterday Now Tomorrow”, are you imagining a specific DJ, room, or moment on a dancefloor, or is it more abstract than that?
This track was influenced by a couple of old DJ Rush house remixes I was playing a lot at the time of making it. Real crunchy but heavily swung grooves that felt closer to house than techno but worked when playing both styles. I was trying to create something that translated to a bigger room but maintaining the warmth and bounce you’d be used to in more intimate spaces.
Deaf Test began as a lockdown idea, a club night, then a label. Looking back, how much did having your own platform change the kind of risks you felt able to take in your own productions?
It’s a double edged sword when you’re the only one making the final decision on what you release. Sometimes it’s nice having someone else to say yes or no to something or push you into a certain direction with a record. Other times it’s nice to just do what you want completely, I’ve never felt like there have been risks though.
You’ve spent years as part of the Bristol bass lineage alongside artists like Bruce and Batu, and you’re now based in South London. How much do you think geography and scene shape a producer’s sound, versus it being something more personal that would emerge wherever you were?
To be honest I only lived in Bristol for about 2 years, I’ve spent the last 10 here in London. If I’m really honest I live in my own little bubble and don’t leave my house much these days except for gigs at the weekend, so I’d say my geography doesn’t affect the music I make much. It could be fun to test that one day and maybe live somewhere really different for a bit and see if my music changes.
You’ve remixed artists such as Len Faki, Bjarki and Mount Kimbie, and had your own work remixed by Beatrice Dillon and Peder Mannerfelt. Does hearing someone else reinterpret your music ever change how you hear the original, or influence what you make next?
I think Peder Mannerfelt put a sample of his cat in the remix he did for me, if I remember correctly, it didn’t have a direct influence on my future music though. Those remixes were so different from the originals they felt like completely new tracks to me, I loved them.
Looking at the decade ahead rather than the one behind you, is there a sound, format, or way of working you haven’t explored yet as Ploy that you’re consciously moving toward?
At the moment I’m just continuing on this current style, but I need to keep refining it at least until I’m satisfied. I’m enjoying writing dance music for very specific contexts – specific to moods/vibes, times of morning and night that the music would work best etc, things like that. It’s becoming quite hyperspecific and I’m enjoying that way of creating.