A BURNING MAN EPIPHANY

Simon Shackleton - Robot Heart Sunrise 2011 (photo by Darrin Harris Frisby)

In 2011, on a dusty night in Black Rock City, something inside me shifted.

I was floating across the desert on the Robot Heart bus, surrounded by the vastness of the Playa, when a track by Carlo Lio—Stuck in a Dream—came on. For the first time in years, I felt a connection that cut straight to the bone ... the kind of connection that doesn’t just make you feel something but makes you rethink *everything*. I was absolutely transfixed by the droning groove and in that moment, it was like I could hear the past, the future, and my mother’s voice, all at once.

Up until then, my music had often been intense, driving, functional and built for peak moments on dance floors around the world. But in that fleeting pre-sunrise moment, I realized my path needed to shift. The music I was making had to go deeper, had to be more personal. I felt like I had to unveil more of myself through it. It had to tell the stories that haunted me, not just the ones that kept the energy high.

When I came back from that Burning Man, the first track I wrote was Ten10, named in honour of my mother’s birthday. It was intimate, layered with emotion, and it felt like a risk—a step into the unknown. But it was a step I needed to take for myself.

Ten10 was the beginning of a new chapter. A more personal journey. One that led me to where I am today with The Shadowmaker. This change wasn’t about turning my back on my past; it was about embracing a deeper, more personal side of my music and letting that guide the way forward.

It took me years to understand that the most powerful music doesn’t just move bodies—it moves souls. And for me, that’s where the real journey begins.