Some musical projects are built around a genre; others are built around a feeling. For Blue Iris, that feeling comes from the meeting point between melody, rhythm, culture and human experience. Through their productions, DJ sets and creative projects, brothers and co-founders Giannni and Kasbï have developed a signature approach that blends organic instrumentation, progressive structures and global influences into a sound that feels both timeless and deeply connected to the present.
Rooted in years of musical exploration from playing instruments and digging for vinyl to discovering sounds across the world — their artistic identity goes far beyond the studio. Their music reflects the places they have experienced, the people they have met and the emotions attached to those moments.
In this conversation with Eternal Groove, they open up about the foundations of the Blue Iris sound, the importance of human touch in electronic music, the influence of travel on their creativity, and how they continue to build a musical universe where emotion and connection remain at the centre.
Blue Iris has developed a very distinct identity rooted in melodic house, afro-inspired rhythms and organic electronic textures. How would you describe the “Blue Iris sound” today in your own words?
We would describe the Blue Iris sound as melodic and progressive music that can be experienced in many different contexts. It should feel just as powerful when listening alone in your car as it does on a festival sound system. Above all, it’s music designed to create emotion and connection, regardless of where it’s being heard.
Both of you come from strong musical foundations, from drums, percussion, instruments and vinyl culture. How much of that early musical education still shapes the way you approach production and DJing?
It still shapes everything we do today. We spent countless hours behind the decks, listening to and collecting vinyl records found in flea markets or in places like the record shops on Rue des Taillandiers in Paris. That culture taught us how to listen deeply to music. Learning instruments also had a huge impact on our creative process. Rather than relying solely on software, it allowed us to directly play the melodies and emotions we had in mind. That instinctive approach remains at the core of both our productions and DJ sets.
A lot of your work feels deeply tied to physicality and rhythm rather than purely digital construction. How important is live instrumentation and human touch in your creative process?
Human touch is essential to our creative process. During our performances, we often incorporate live drums, which bring an additional layer of energy and humanity to electronic music — a genre that can sometimes feel impersonal. In the studio, playing many of the instruments ourselves allows us to preserve that organic feeling. We love the imperfections and emotions that naturally emerge through live performance, and that’s something we always try to keep in our music.
Kasbï’s Astral draws on melodic, progressive and afro-tech influences while maintaining a cinematic emotional quality. How do you balance emotional storytelling with dancefloor functionality?
For us, a great track should be able to accompany different moments in life. It should feel just as meaningful when listening to it alone in the morning as it does in the middle of a warehouse surrounded by people. That was exactly the intention behind Astral. The track is highly melodic and progressive, but at the same time it relies on groove, both in its structure and bassline, to maintain its dancefloor energy.
Blue Iris is described as a “creative ecosystem” rather than just a label. At what point did you realise it had expanded beyond releases into something more cultural?
Blue Iris naturally evolved into something broader because it has always been deeply inspired by travel and human encounters. Connections with artists such as Monolink or Mestiza expanded our vision of what was possible creatively. Beyond that, many of our biggest inspirations have come from unexpected moments during our travels — meeting an oud player in the medina of Fez, hearing a guitarist perform on a beach in Bali, or experiencing the unique atmosphere of Burning Man. These experiences constantly reshape our perspective on music and have transformed Blue Iris into something that goes far beyond a traditional label.
Your catalogue spans multiple global influences, shaped by time spent in places like Ibiza, Saint-Tropez, Mykonos and St. Barts. How do those environments translate into sound, if at all?
They influence our music in a very emotional way. The beauty of a sunrise or sunset, the atmosphere of a particular place, and the emotions we experience while travelling often find their way into our productions. Music has always been a way for us to translate those feelings into sound and preserve the memories attached to those moments.
There’s a strong sense of continuity between releases, even across different styles. Do you consciously curate that cohesion, or does it happen naturally through shared taste?
It happens very naturally. We simply create and release music that genuinely moves us. The cohesion comes from our shared sensitivity to melody and emotion rather than from a conscious attempt to fit within a specific style or formula.
Looking ahead to your upcoming collaboration Ulu, how does working together as brothers differ from your individual projects creatively?
At first, producing together was actually quite challenging because we both had so many ideas in the studio that it was difficult to translate them into a single vision. Over time, we realized that the key was to start from something simple. For us, that often means beginning with a guitar melody. The main melody of Ulu was actually written while playing guitar on a beach in Uluwatu, Bali, and that organic starting point helped us naturally build the track together.
What does longevity mean for Blue Iris? Is it about a specific sound, community, or the ability to keep evolving without losing identity?
For us, longevity is primarily about continuing to evolve while staying true to our identity and values. We hope to keep building experiences around Blue Iris, whether through creating our own festival, collaborating with artists we admire, or sharing meaningful moments together at places such as Burning Man. Ultimately, it’s about creating a lasting community built around music, emotion and human connection.
