Name: Nubiyan Twist
Interviewee: Tom Excell
Nationality: British
Current release: Nubiyan Twist's Find Your Flame is out May 3rd 2024 via Strut. They will also perform live at Berlin's Xjazz Festival. For tickets, go here.
Recommendations:
D’Gary - my favourite guitarist of all time!
Zanele Muholi - I love their self portraits especially but all of their work is worth checking out.

If you enjoyed this Nubiyan Twist interview and would like to keep up to date with the collective and their music, visit their official homepage. The band are also on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Music is there for me in different ways at different times.

It’s ever-present in the world of sounds around us and it caters for every state of mind.  

Entering new worlds and escapism through music have always exerted a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to listening to and creating music?

I’m drawn to combinations of sounds that I already like but done in a new way.

I love the diversity and inclusivity that the culture of music brings and those are the things I’m drawn to.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience?

My dad's record collection was integral to my musical journey, it was a soundtrack of everything from dub to jungle, Jazz to Soukous, trip hop to highlife and beyond. My mum also pushed me to learn instruments. The combination of these 2 things were massive for me.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

I was writing music like no tomorrow at that age. I’d write at least 2 songs a night when I got back from school. It just poured out of me without thinking.

I wish I still had that level of care free approach.

How would you describe your own relationship with your instrument, tools or equipment?

I’m kinda bored of guitar at the moment as I’ve been playing it for so long.

I love my studio as I can always grab a different instrument depending on my mood and see what creativity it sparks. I’m really into piano right now.

Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

It’s very fluid for me, I don’t really analyse where influences are coming from, I just let them happen.

Are you acting out parts of your personality in your music which you couldn't or wouldn't in your daily life? If so, which are these? What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music?

I love getting to dance around on stage.

I don’t get time to go out to see gigs or party any more as I’ve got a 2 year old at home so playing gigs is my one time to really let my hair down.

If music is a language, what can we communicate with it? How do you deal with misunderstandings?

The way I see it there are no misunderstandings, there is no incorrect way to interoperate music and everyone interprets it differently.

If a piece of music makes me feel happy and you feel sad, they are both valid.

Making music, in the beginning, is often playful and about discovery. How do you retain a sense of playfulness and how do you still draw surprises from tools, approaches and musical forms you may be very familiar with?  

I’m always looking for ways to be playful and find new ways to mess about with creating music.

Having a 2 year old has been great for re-living a free and playful approach to life in general.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

I’ve always experienced the sounds of the world as music for as long as I can remember, there’s so many amazing rhythmic and melodic sounds going on all the time that often we don’t tune into.

Bird song tops it for me though. I use it a lot in my music too, it fits with everything!


Nubiyan Twist Interview Image by Laura Page

There seems to be an increasing trend to capture music in algorithms, and data. But already at the time of Plato, arithmetic, geometry, and music were considered closely connected. How do you see that connection yourself? What aspects of music do you feel can be captured through numbers, and which can not?

I think there’s a distinct difference between creative mathematics, (which could be a way of describing all music if you wanted to see it that way) and algorithms designed to drive the capitalising commodification of music as a product to the masses.

I strongly believe we need to keep agency and control over technology and not let it take away our imaginations and spirits. AI and the digitalisation of creativity is risky business if you ask me!

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

For me music making is a spiritual process and a collaborative one. The need for connection is ever present for humans and music allows that in profound ways.

I wish I could take more of that into my everyday life.

We can surround ourselves with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

I’m a bit adverse to silence to my detriment. I want to spend more time checking in with my thoughts and feelings and silence allows this.

It can be a bit daunting to confront however. Especially when you’re used to the hectic pace of modern life and its distractions.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

There’s so much venerability in performing music. You are putting yourself out there in front of so many people for judgement. Usually it pays off and you get a beautiful interaction with people. Sometimes you get insulted and criticised.

However, the level of profoundly positive and moving experiences that people have shared with me is truly humbling and feels like it goes very deep compared to most mundane tasks.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I would love to see better support for live music in the UK.

Most people don’t realise that a lot of artists are barely getting paid even at a high level. And so many venues are shutting down. The need for live music is there as strongly as ever but the industry is struggling so much and getting so little support from the government here in the UK.

I’d love to see this change and for the culture and art to be protected.