Jon Carter is set to release his first album for 25 years, after re-inventing himself in various guises outside of the music world, and being away from music for over a decade.

He only returned to producing again 18 months ago, but now the dance music legend is back with a bang.

‘Medication Time’ has already received much early critical acclaim from various music legends, who heard it in late 2023. The album sees Jon return to the fray with a slew of tracks ranging from discerning styles of house music, acid and techno through to discursive electronica, all underpinned by his trademark eclecticism.

The comeback single, ‘Mighty Horses’ has a unique, haunting vocal courtesy of Betty Steeles which carries this captivating house track along on the crest of a wave.

The second single, the huge dancefloor monster ‘Brothers and Sisters’, features the vocals of Chicago music legend, Curtis ‘Move Your Body’ McClain - the voice of Marshall Jefferson’s seminal ‘House Music Anthem’.

‘Travelling Show’ is a dirty disco-funk bomb, while recent single ‘Finish Him!!’, produced with Jack Said What mainstay Steve Mac, has been destroying dancefloors in 2023, and is a raw, storming, bleepy acid jacking techno monster, inspired by 8-bit computer gaming, and a filthy t-shirt design glimpsed in infamous Glastonbury backstage bar Maceo’s.

The title track, meanwhile, was one of his first productions when he returned to music. “I wanted to explore a deceptively simple, driving, pleasing, engaging electronic rhythm, with a breakdown that suddenly disorientates the listener by losing the kick-drum, with a sonic drop into the chaotic sound of the urban maelstrom we leave behind when we are on the dancefloor. Suddenly, it snaps you back into the escape of the disco, with the call to the prescription — ‘Medication Time’,” Jon says.

“There is a theme throughout this album that I tried to maintain whilst producing it,” Jon continues, “of addressing wo/mankind’s diverse beliefs, and how we could better manage our time in this world.” To this effect, all other vocals were provided by the recently departed Reverend Don Gorgon, with some words of wisdom.

Reverend Gorgon is “a character and a half” that Jon met whilst down on the beach one day. “A part of him will always be within me,” says Jon, wistfully.

Opening track ‘Sail We Must’ (and its intro) is a tribute to Jon’s late friend and inspiration, Andrew Weatherall.

‘Fail We May, Sail We Must’ are Andrew’s most renowned tattoos, “and is as good a statement of living in this world as I have ever heard,” Jon says. “This track was made very much with Andrew in mind, especially his later works and ALFOS DJ sets. It started as a beatless track made to encourage a peaceful frame of mind, which I did not even realise was being conducted by the rhythmic sound of the waves lapping outside my window by the sea, where I now live and work.”

“In short, whether he likes it or not, Andrew changed the course of my life through his music. I like to think he would like this piece, and that it is deserving of the name”.

“Andrew’s passing affected me very deeply, and still does. Emotionally, I showed this openly. Sadly, this was also a point where I started to be medicated, not entirely correctly, and my mental well-being was also stigmatised. I’ll say no more.”

Jon is delighted to be out DJing again and totally immersed in the studio. Producing this album has been both therapy and medication for Jon. From his own experience, Jon is of the belief that music is a great medicine, and has called his comeback album ‘Medication Time’ for a number of reasons.

“Lyrics and album or song titles that are clear, but open to different meanings to different people have always appealed to me. In this case, it can refer to my own personal experience, or a wider need for solutions to the ever increasing stresses experienced by almost every individual alive.”

“I feel more at home making music now, than I did when I left it all those years ago,” he says. “Music has saved me, helping me more than any medication. To be able to create music again is a blessing. It is an escape, and an entrance to other worlds at the same time. The sheer joy of music alone is a reason to live. I am so thankful.”

One of the shining lights of the late 90s/noughties scene, Jon gave the music game up at the height of his fame to open pubs and music venues, and then swapped those venues for a new venture in the country. “For my sins, I designed a ludicrously ambitious project to convert a derelict farm into a retreat centre where people could come to escape to a place of blissful peace, outside of the urban grind,” Jon explains.

“I generally worked 80/100-hour weeks for four of those years, starting the project four days after having twins. This was not the blissful peace I imagined.”

“Finishing what I started, I am glad to have now moved back to my first passion, creating music. Creating this album was inspired by the struggles and experiences, and what I have learned from others about our own mental wellbeing, and how we all collectively address this major concern of the 21st Century”.

“Until the day comes when we all understand that managing the functionality of our minds - through whatever means - is as normalised as our managing the functionality of our eyesight with corrective lenses - or any other part of our bodies - any mental health concern remains stigmatised.

Society needs to be open and vocal about mental wellbeing, which is so misunderstood, and has to positively appreciate those who are self-aware enough to know they need to work on their mental wellbeing with whatever form of medication that helps.

The release date of 16th February 2024 for ‘Medication Time’ is coincidentally in the same week as the anniversary of the passing of the Guv’nor, Andrew Weatherall, and on the 25th anniversary of the final Heavenly Social party at Turnmills, in London.