1. How did it feel to return with your first solo music in three years?
It always feels amazing to be back with music to share. I had such a wonderful process making this album. People seem to be really connecting with the music and the response has been very positive, which is everything I can hope for.
2. How do you feel your musical style has changed in the past three years?
I feel very happy in where I’m at in my life and I hope that reflects in the music I’ve been making. I’m more self-accepting than I’ve ever been before; I’m happy to explore and lean into the more imperfect parts of myself. Stylistically, that was reflected in a lot of the production choices and choosing to leave things more open and undone at the seams; to leave doors open when I was recording, to stick with an original demo vocal take, to not overthink what something could be and let it be what it was.
I also think I take life less seriously these days and I hope the music reflects that too. The album is a collage of different elements and processes of music I love to make. I love choral music, sample culture, live music and the more produced elements of electronic music. I wanted to weave all these things together in one body of work.
3. What was the inspiration behind your new album?
My main intention for the album is I really wanted to allow myself time to write a big pool of ideas and be able to pick from that. I wanted to take my time and most of all, I wanted to have fun. I travelled around a lot with this album – I chose a few studio items and created a studio-in-a-suitcase where I could take a set up with me wherever I went and have the option to respond to my surroundings. I travelled to Florence, Sri Lanka, a residential in Spain where I ended up co-writing with Uma Bunnag and Luke Bower, to Berlin where I worked with producer D’monk, back to London where I worked with producer Harvey Grant and lots of places in between.
Thematically, it looks at the delicate line between opposing feelings I’ve been questioning; self-doubt pitted against self-assurance, age against youth, life against death.
4. What’s your favourite track?
It changes all the time, ‘Sundown’ is one that means the most to me but right now my favourite is probably ‘There Goes The Light.’ It’s a very laid back track about kicking back, being still and watching time pass. I’m writing this on a Sunday so it feels like an appropriate Sunday track!
5. What are you most excited about for your performance at the ICA in September?
I always love the challenge of reimagining the recorded music for live performance. It brings a new opportunity for creation and I have both the co-producers on the album (Harvey Grant and D’monk) on stage with me so it’s going to be a lot of fun! We’ll be surrounded by a lot of beautiful analogue gear!
6. You’ve worked with Jay Electronica, Little Simz and Lil Silva – who is your dream collaborator, living or dead?
Kendrick Lamar would be pretty high up on that list. Mary Lou Williams too. There’s so many.
7. What’s your perfect Sunday?
I love Sundays, it’s my favourite day of the week. My perfect Sunday is going for a morning walk, cooking up some delicious food at home for my family, drinking some wine, playing some records and dancing around our flat with my baby boy.
8. If you weren’t a musician, what would you be?
I love furniture and architecture so perhaps something around that.
9. For anyone just discovering your music now, what song would you suggest they start with and why?
‘Mood to Make Love’ is a good place to start I think as the song feels indicative of my vibe. My voice is a pretty big part of my music, so otherwise something all vocal like ‘Sundown (Reprise).’
10. What can fans look forward to from you in the next year?
I’ll be doing some more live touring and have some exciting musical things in the works. Hoping and wishing I’ll get some time to get back in the studio to make more sounds too!
