#5 - Sam Brookes

This week I speak to Stanlæy, an artist and musician who combines glitchy, experimental production with intricate compositions, belying a background in classical viola. They love sonic world-building - within songs, and in their physical sound Installations. Their track Fragility, (from their EP “p=arallel u=niverse”) uses digital, broken sounds with fragile vocals and lyrics. A song can also reflect a temporal landscape, tied to a specific period of time, which we can re-enter on later listening. “Fragility” is tied to the period of lockdown in which it was written, and relates the need for self-compassion, especially during that time. We also discuss breath, the artist as an electrical conductor and the colour of songs.

This week I speak to singer, songwriter and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, whose music combines classical music with alternative R&B. We discuss her track “Rise Up”, which is both a dance track inspired by Missy Elliot, and a powerful anthem to enact change, which found it’s place in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. She describes her journey exploring her Jamaican heritage through it’s folk music - how composing and performing are an outward expression of her spiritual condition - and how this creation can help change our world for the better, from the inside out.

This week I speak to xyzelle., a soulful alt-RnB singer/songwriter who moved from the Philippines as a child, and we discuss our shared experiences of growing up as an Asian person in a predominately white area. She brings her track “Remedy”, which celebrates finding self-confidence as a teenage girl and a person of colour. We discuss how music can tie you to the place you came from learning to trust your creative instincts and how these lessons bleed over into the rest of our lives.

“What an inspiring conversation!” Those are the last words of this week’s episode, and I’m sure you will be inspired too by Abi Flynn's extraordinary story and music. Abi is a soul, jazz and R&B singer, with an amazing story. Diagnosed with cancer, and given a terminal diagnosis, she healed, miraculously, after a profound spiritual experience. It’s remarkably similar to my own story, and we explore our shared insights on death and inner transformation. Her song “Courage” was recorded whilst “on her deathbed”. We also discuss returning from isolation (a topic so relevant to all of us now)  alchemy, and how becoming a mother has changed her life.

I chat to Jasmine Crowe, a pop artist, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Los Angeles, who uses music to speak about mental health and addiction awareness, which she explores in her first album, “Symptoms”. She brings her track “Sky Is Falling”, a powerful tribute to the death of her father, an astrophysicist, philosopher and musician. We too bring together these paradigms, and contemplate how music fits in. She describes how collaborating on songwriting has evolved her musical style, and her experience of doing so long-distance, online.  We also discuss coping mechanisms and mental health, and the relationship between music, time and memory

This week, I chat to Anusha, whose pop/R&B sound combines her classical training, and her poetry (strongly paralleling my own songwriting background). She brings her track “Someone I Never Wanted”, written about her experience of sexual harassment at university. She describes her struggle to break free of the limits imposed on her by her classical mindset, excessive music theory & the perception of her as a black artist. We also discuss the value of play in a society obsessed with points-based achievements, how hip-hop acts as a meeting place for her influences, and how inner reflection can precipitate social change.

This week, I share a fascinating conversation with Grove, a producer and vocalist who combines dancehall, punk, jungle & pop. Their track is “Black”, written about the toppling of the Edward Colston statue, which comes from their “Queer + Black” EP. We discuss what being queer means to them, and how it intersects with their discovery of black culture & history. Our discussion begins with identity, fluidity and self-exploration, through introspection and outward expression - before expanding into Nina Simone, AI, evolving as society beyond duality & identity beyond classifications.

RIZIK is an instrumentalist from LA, whose work spans electronic music and neo-classical piano. Today’s track, “Alone Together (Panorama)” is a solo piano piece. In this fascinating conversation, RIZIK describes feeling pressured into a conventional path by his Palestinian parents - before taking the leap of faith from music marketer to musician. We find a strong parallel here with my own experience, coming from a Chinese background, then leaving Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford to become a musician. His dual life as marketer and musician give him a unique perspective on both fields.  We also discuss how instrumental and lyrical music affect the audience differently, how we can lose faith in our dreams, the fraud complex, and feeling shame about calling yourself “an artist”.

In this episode we meet Andy Cato, one half of Groove Armada, and discuss his first experience of dance music, the formation of Groove Armada and his transition into regenerative farming. Groove Armada, has been at the heart of electronic music scene for over two decades - touring internationally, playing the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury and founding Lovebox. In this episode, he tells the story of how Groove Armada wrote their first hit “At The River”. It involves a country cottage, a record found at the corner shop, a speaker turned into a makeshift mic and a trombone…

Alt-folk singer-songwriter and old friend Sam Brookes joins me to discuss his track '18 & Sleeping', taken from his latest album 'Black Feathers' (a "meditation on grief") written after the death of his father and a close friend. We discuss depression, healing through songwriting, the magic of live music, the future of the music industry and finding peace in the middle of it all.