Incredibly hazy and dreamy, ‘The Low’ is almost a revelation: drenched in lo-fi goo and psychedelic magic, the track has been one of our best discoveries this month. Mutomba is the talented artist behind it. Originally from Zimbabwe, he’s now based in Leicester, a city that’s clearly having a positive effect on his creativity!
Luscious, soulful and passionate, ‘The Low’ shifts between Tame Impala-esque wonkiness to D’Angelo-esque poignancy, making for an eclectic mix of influences and genres. The result is a hypnotising piece that’s glorious and catchy, especially taking into account the final guitar solo, spacious and immensely vibrant.
Intrigued by the project, we caught up with Mutomba to find out more about his artistry and future goals… Interview below!
Hey Mutomba, how is it going? some of our readers might not be familiar with your project, how would you describe yourself, in a few words?
Hey! I’m Mutomba, I wear many hats but in this instance I’m a singer-songwriter and producer from Leicester, UK.
Your current work is the result of a long journey; What first drew you to making music?
I’ve had a love for music since I was young, and I think one of the biggest factors in me wanting to make music was watching all the music videos on old music channels like MTV, Bliss, B4, VH1 etc. As a very visual kid, I loved how differently the artists presented their visions so uniquely with their sounds, and I remember wanting to do the same.
If you had the opportunity to pick any artists in the world for a collaboration, who would be your first choice? (and second choice, perhaps?)
I’d love to work with Andre 3000 in any way shape or form I could; I’ve been a fan of him for as long as I can remember so that would be a dream for me. There are too many artists that come to mind though haha but a very close second would be Labrinth. I think what he does is incredible!
You recently released a stunning track, ‘The Low’, a hazy, dreamy gem balanced between psych, indie and neo-soul. Talking about the sonic aspect of it, we appreciate your guitar prowess, quite bluesy and evocative. How do you balance your musical and lyrical sides?
I wish that was me playing the guitars but that’s my friend Callum Sansome! A fantastic musician in his own right. For this song in particular, I think having one side lyrical and the other side much more musical felt the best. I played with a bunch of second verses but none of them felt right, and the ones that might have worked, just felt out of place. The song at that point needed more present guitars so I gave Callum a call. Funnily enough, we’d played the song on stage before it was finished, and in place of the second verse, we had an improvised guitar solo.
It didn’t take long once we actually started recording to realise that a solo was what it needed to close it out. It separates the two sides almost, the first half being where the characters are conflicted and contemplating their decisions, and the second half being more reflective, sitting in the aftermath of their choice. Something like that haha
Songwriting-wise, what was the inspiration behind ‘The Low’?
The Low is a story about to people wanting different things from a relationship. As always in this situation(ship)s, one person always compromises more than than the other. The song was inspired by a few different people and a few different situations, where I’ve been on both sides. I like to think that the characters in this circumstance ended up making a very cordial decision.
Do you feel more confident writing music alone, or within a team?
I enjoy writing music with people for sure, but it’s very new to me and sometimes daunting. I feel a lot more confident writing on my own purely because I tend to be very honest in my writing so there’s a hesitancy when you’re being that vulnerable. That being said one of my favourite things about music is the different interpretations that people can have about lyrics that might be wildly different from your own; all of this makes it a lot of fun to write with others.
Artistically speaking, what challenges have the last two years presented you with?
I think the biggest challenge for me, artistically speaking, has been the writing process. Before I even started that was the biggest hurdle, not having anything to say, or not knowing how to say it the way I felt was the most accurate and honest way that I could. I feel like my writing is the weakest part of my skill set at the minute so it’s the part that gives me the most headaches haha. Aside from artistically, the biggest challenge has just been getting to grips with all the technicalities of making music like learning DAWs, all the parts that go into recording properly, the post-production etc there’s a lot! and I love it.
What are the next steps for your project? Anything exciting on the horizon?
The next step for this particular song is the music video, which we’ve had an idea for, it just requires a little bit of jiggery-pokery and movie magic to come out how I want it to so the planning continues for now. Other than that I’ve got one more single to put out this year before focusing on writing and recording for a project I’m working on; as well as focusing on collaborations and working on my friend’s music. It’s looking like a full year really!
