Drowned in Sound What If You Could Taste Music? kwes. on his "dreamy" new LP on Warp
What happens when a producer and musician working with Solange, Rosie Lowe, Loyle Carner, and Kelela burns out, and a spilled glass of water shows him the way back?
Kwes. (Kwesi Sey) has spent fifteen years at the centre of London's most boundary-pushing music, from working with Bobby Womack to the Rye Lane soundtrack. But after years of studio sessions and collaborations, he needed a reset. The catalyst came from his daughter: she knocked over a drink mid-drawing, shrugged it off, and carried on. That moment became the blueprint for his new album Kinds, made in six months of late-night flow states, half-asleep at the keyboard.
The result is a 29-minute meditation on colour, memory, and sound. Every track is named after the hues kwes. experiences through synesthesia / chromesthesia (hearing colours).
We talk about making music without overthinking, why ambient records aren't minimal, the discipline of producing for other artists versus creating your own work, and what Beach Boys albums taste like.
Sean and kwes. also discuss burnout and creative recovery, the London scene that connects Damon Albarn to Tirzah to Speech Debelle, and why London needs creative spaces with affordable accommodation. kwes. reflects on the Barbican and Tate Modern premieres for Kinds, working with visual artist Ryan Vautier, and his hope that one day we'll be able to smell sound.
If there's a thread running through it all, it's this: rest is political. And sometimes the most radical thing you can do is stop overthinking and just make.
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Edited by: tell.studio (Phil, Louisa, Owen, Matt)
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Links & Resources:
kwes.:
- Official website: https://kwes.info
- Bandcamp: https://kwesmusic.bandcamp.com
- Warp Records: https://warp.net/artists/kwes/
Films & Soundtracks:
- Rye Lane (dir. Raine Allen-Miller): https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001k3tb/rye-lane
- Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story: https://www.londonsff.com/black-is-beautiful
Some of the artists mentioned:
- Coby Sey (kwes.'s brother): https://cobysey.bandcamp.com
- Elan Tamara (kwes.'s wife): https://elantamara.bandcamp.com
- Loyle Carner: https://loylecarner.com
- Kelela: https://www.kelela.com
- Tirzah: https://tirzah.co.uk
Recorded at The Shure Experience Centre in London
Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction
03:00:00 - What is minimalism?
06:15:00 - Working with Solange and Kelela
10:45:00 - The spilled drink catalyst
14:30:00 - Making the record after burnout
19:00:00 - Flow state and late-night writing
22:25:00 - Newsletter ad break
25:00:00 - Barbican and Tate Modern premieres
28:30:00 - Synesthesia and colour-coded tracks
32:00:00 - Qobuz ad break
35:00:00 - Brian Eno and ambient music
40:00:00 - Inspirations: Beach Boys, Pat Metheny
47:00:00 - What does music taste like?
50:30:00 - Creative spaces and accommodation
54:00:00 - Hope for music in 2050