Part 2

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

During the week my day consists of waking up early and going to the gym before heading home and showering before my first work meeting of the day. I work full-time up until roughly 6PM, with two days in the office usually. During my lunch breaks or quickly in between meetings I’ll try to answer any emails relating to music. If I have any music meetings, I’ll schedule those around that time too.

Once work is done, I’ll start work on any music deliverables which currently vary from recording a new mix, radio content, producing demos, preparing social media posts for the following day and searching for new music.

What I’ve described is an ideal scenario and sometimes things may not run as smoothly! What I’d like to bring back into my routine is time to practise my scales and Drums. For some time, I haven’t been able to practise at all and this hinders my creativity a little.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

Piecing the sound for my forthcoming album has been a beautiful challenge to say the least. Creation/ideation started off by confirming with myself some of the main objectives of my next project: present an album that combined different dimensions of my sound, produce a project that fused live and electronic elements and create a cohesive LP that challenges my comfort zone by combining genres, creating different moods and working with artists / musicians.

Before starting some of my projects I tend to listen to music I can draw inspiration from to get my mind in the right space. So for ‘Textures’ I started off by compiling a Youtube playlist called ‘Textures, Feels & Rhythms.” I had clips of Ghanaian percussionists, chants, live Afrobeat arrangements and clips of Ghanaian Fishermen preparing for sea. That was my starting base in terms of having a rough guide on the moods and tones I wanted to merge with other parts of my club sound.

I created demos but never applied any pressure to say these were for an album. The goal was just to be in the headspace to make a batch of demos, loops and ideas after watching the Youtube playlist. After the ideas were created, I decided to concentrate on a shortlist batch. Again, these weren’t the final album ideas but a shortlist to explore further or play as instrumentals in my DJ sets.

Simultaneously, I was listening to albums to understand track transitions which I really enjoyed from artists like Sango, Cleo Soul, Daft Punk, Juls, Kaytranda, Ghetts and more.
 
Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

My initial preference was to work privately. When I’m creating music by myself, I can take time with fine tuning sounds, parking projects to the side if I’m lacking inspiration and generally take more time. I also had confidence issues and used to doubt what I could bring to the collaboration. I felt that if I was to collaborate with someone, my contribution to the project wouldn’t be worthwhile or I’d hit a block.

I quickly got rid of that mindset and since having my first collaboration experience with Sango on our track ‘Espirito Santo’, I’ve been really open to creating music with other producers and musicians. Collaboration allows for different production styles to merge and create music that may have not been made alone. It pushes your production boundaries as you learn from your collaborators and the techniques used.

For my forthcoming album, I’ve taken those principles and worked with a few producers and musicians. It hasn’t been completely easy as there were some challenges navigating through the pandemic and also collaborating with artists abroad. However, it has completely elevated my music.
 
How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

This is something that I’m constantly trying to understand myself. I am reassured through feedback that my music is contributing towards the concept of cross cultural exchange and empowering like minded producers to find ways to highlight their heritage in their music.
 
Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

Music has shared an association to a few of my life events.

Last year my Dad passed away and we laid him to rest in Ghana. Whenever I hear Presbyterianism music now, I think of him and the funeral service we had. Listening to Jazz takes me back to the days my Dad would play it on the car radio after picking my sister and I from school. Nowadays when I’m stressed, I listen to Jazz to give me a sense of calmness.

Alternatively when I listen to UK Garage, it takes me back to the days of being a young kid finding out about pirate radio stations, that sense of discovery.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?  

Music is essentially art and behind the art is science. The skill and art of creating a particular mood is achieved through playing specific scales or experimenting with arrangements. Those scales form the specific vibrations we absorb. Even the art of music production can be improved if you know a bit of the science.

I had a period where I wanted to increase the density of my bass lines. Studying the various waveforms, envelopes, Low Frequency Oscillators and effects gave me an understanding of where I lacked in creating those patches.
 
Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. 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 are only so many ways you can make a great cup of coffee, tea or hot drink. With music, you can be as creative and expressive as your mind allows. Meaning that the writing possibilities are endless. If we compare cooking with making music, then I can understand the connection
 
Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it is able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?
 
For me this all comes down to some of the key features or properties of music and arrangement; building tension, the scales that are used, instruments selected, articulation, lyrics, frequencies, tone and dynamics.

As a creator, you decide on how to apply those elements and as a listener, this is what is delivered to us as a final piece.