Photo by Owen Richards
As far as two-sentence origin stories go, Kwes' is pretty damn solid. "Before I was born, my mum used to have a clock radio that she used to put in the bed with her," says the singer and producer on the phone from his flat in London. "And then, a few months after I was born, I would attempt to eat the radio." On his forthcoming four-track EP for Warp, Meantime, the 24-year-old artist takes the idea of a traditional pop love song and filters it through his own admirably humble personality, not to mention his prowess for subtle studio flourishes. The result is an open-hearted, 17-minute piece of work that mixes a homemade aesthetic with swirling electronics; you listen to these songs and instantly get an idea of the man behind them.
That man is confident but shy-- a seeming contradiction that doesn't seem contradictory at all on Meantime's "bashful" (lowercase, his), which you can stream below. "A countenance accountable for the lack of mettle in my bones/ I'm bashful," he tongue twists on the track, while a propulsive instrumental somewhere between TV on the Radio and Aphex Twin's more organic material bops along, pushing him to the fore. Accordingly, it took a while for Kwes to feel comfortable at the center of his own work. He started getting into production at 14-- inspired by artists as diverse as Frank Zappa, N.E.R.D., Shuggie Otis, and White Noise-- and then briefly studied philosophy at the University of Hull, where he fixated on German thinker Arthur Schopenhauer's theories on love. But, as his musical opportunites increased, he dropped out of school in his sophomore year, and has since worked with UK rapper Speech Debelle, Micachu of Micachu and the Shapes, and the xx's Romy Madley, and has remixed Hot Chip and Damon Albarn. His first solo single came out in 2009, though he only sang in front of a crowd for the first time last November. He'll return to the stage for his first U.S. gig at Warp's SXSW showcase on March 17; Meantime is out May 1.
Pitchfork: The first proper song on your EP is called "bashful", which is a funny way to start things off-- by announcing your shyness. Was it a hard decision for you to switch from being a producer to an artist in your own right?
Kwes: It wasn't something I was striving to do. A year ago, my heart was really into producing records and writing for other people-- I could blame my shyness on that. But, within the last half year, I've become a lot more comfortable with using my own stuff as another kind of creative outlet. Using my voice and writing about personal events is the most honest-- as well as the hardest-- way of expressing myself. If you caught me two, three, four years ago, I wouldn't have had the balls to do that.
Also, I'd started writing two of the songs on the EP-- "bashful" and "honey"-- four years ago, but the laptop I was working on broke. Then I came across a book with the lyrics and chord progressions in it, and I began rebuilding the songs from that. Some of the lyrics changed; "honey" has a slightly different meaning than it did four years ago. Back then, it was about the idea of knowing that you're not going to get someone to love you, but you still hang in there. Whereas now, it's about appreciating that person. Overall, the songs are more hopeful as opposed to being melancholy. Imperfection is a massive part of me, and now I'm embracing that whole side to everything. Maybe that's why I am a lot happier.
Pitchfork: The EP features three pretty straightforward love songs, which is refreshing-- and a little surprising-- from something on Warp.
K: That's just what comes naturally to me. Some of my peers are a lot more concerned with texture and sound, but, with this EP, I wanted to make it clear that I'm about songs first and foremost. I love messing around with sounds, but I didn't want that to be the focus. I'm really into brevity and only using what is necessary in a song-- Scott Walker's Scott 3 is a perfect example of that, it's such a minimal record but so expansive at the same time.
Pitchfork: On "bashful" you sing about being in love with someone who is older than you-- how much older are we talking about?
K: Looking at it now, the girl could have been a news reporter, or a teacher from secondary school, or a celebrity-- I definitely had a crush on Rosario Dawson when I was younger. And with the line "I'm a tropical atypical youth" I was referring to that moment when you're a young teenager and you think you are mature enough to deal with love; you want to give someone the world, but you can't. You aren't experienced enough and, on top of that, you don't know what she needs. There are material things, but that's not really necessary in order to woo someone who is worth wooing.
Pitchfork: Reading the lyrics to "honey"-- specifically the lines, "Since I saw you up there in the cupboard/ My leafy heart grew fonder"-- it sounds like you're singing about some tea leaves being infatuated with a jar of honey.
K: "honey" was inspired by Brian Wilson's "Vegetables"-- using food as a vehicle for love and relationships. On the song, I'm actually singing as a head of cabbage-- I can't move, can't do anything-- but I can see around me. I'm on the counter and I have a view to a half-open cupboard, where there's a half-full jar of glowing honey. It's the love of my life.
Pitchfork: Have you ever eaten cabbage and honey yourself?
K: I haven't, but I've heard that it's really nice.
Pitchfork: All the songs on the EP offer really sympathetic viewpoints, like you are motivating yourself or others. Would you say that's a good representation of your personality?
K: By nature, I am quite a loving person. I want to try to help people. To a degree, I am kind of a counselor. Being a producer essentially is being a counselor: You have to get people to feel comfortable and ask them how they are feeling in order to get an honest body of work. And when you are in a relationship, it's like both of you are producers, recognizing the faults of each other, but bettering each other at the same time... so corny. [laughs]
