Talking to: xxweesh
If you like the sweeping vocals, clever sampling, melancholy and heart-punching downtempo dance of recent years, made famous by the likes of Jamie XX, James Blake and Caribou, you should definitely be listening to xxweesh right now. This Kingswood-born musician and sampler extraordinaire is on the up. If you don’t know Kingswood, which you probably don’t, unless you have the badge of honour of an amazing Bristolian accent, (just like xxweesh and me do), it’s a suburb to the north of Bristol.
He is currently living in accent-free, leafy Clifton, and when we caught up with him in May he was busy juggling working from home and promoting the release of his latest single, II. Having released some amazing lo-fi, downtempo electronic music over the last couple of years, II marks a change of direction to a more uptempo, live music venue friendly vibe to his signature sound. And having listened to it prior to our interview, his new upturn is going to be exciting to follow.
So, how are you coping with lock-down?
Pretty well to be honest, I am living in Clifton with some friends, but they are all furloughed and I am still working. As a music producer I tend to be locked away a lot of the time making music anyway, I tend to self isolate, not that I am an introvert, I just am not going stir crazy being locked in.
So you decided to stick around in Bristol and make music then?
Yeah, so I was born in KIngswood, then went to university in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, then came back down and lived in Bedminster for a few years, then over to Gloucester Rd and now I am in Clifton, so I have dotted around a bit, you have got to hit all the sights.
How did you get into making music? Did you learn formally?
Yes I did. So, as far back as I remember I was always making music, it just always came naturally. Like when everyone was learning recorder in year 3 and I was learning oboe. Then I moved on to saxophone, and eventually I began playing piano, which is where most of my music and compositions stem from. I stuck at that one the longest. I did grade 8 piano, then I studied music at school, and then studied Popular Music at university, and that’s where the electronic production elements came in.
I finished university in 2013, then I dotted about with a few different musician names. I am a bit of a perfectionist, but nothing ever really stuck until recently. You always have to accept the difference between your ability and your taste; you always have to accept the finish is not perfect at first, and then the next release will be a little bit better, then a little bit better. I think it was around 2018 I started making music under this name, xxweesh; this music stuck the most. xxweesh came from a nickname at university, Weesh. And the xx? It’s silent, and purely for search engine optimisation!
It’s nothing to do with Jamie XX then? He was the first artist who came to mind when I listened to your work. And another James as well; James Blake.
My new stuff, it is very Jamie XX. Do you like Bonobo?
Yes, I do.
And Tycho?
Do I need to listen to Tycho?
Yes you do, it’s more, it’s got a very four on the floor drive kick through it. You can definitely dance more to it than the head-nodding lo-fi stuff.
Is that where you are going then? More dance music rather than lo-fi?
It’s bigger… that’s where I am going.
Who are your other influences?
As much as everyone says they hate them, I would say Coldplay. When I was growing up and learning, I was always performing different Coldplay songs at school assemblies and talent shows, and Muse. But more artistically, for this style of music, like I said, Bonobo, and also Emancipator, RJD2, Portishead and Massive Attack. They are my Bristol roots, you hear a lot of them growing up if you are from around here.
Do you draw heavily on your own life experiences when making your music? I noticed a lot of it is quite melancholy, and it got me thinking, where does that come from? Is that personal experience or just drawing on other musical influences?
It’s a bit of both. Last year I came out of a five year relationship, it ended quite badly, and then the most recent music I have released is the transition from where I was then to where I am now. That’s where the word Liminal comes from (Liminal is xxweesh’s previous single release from February). My sound is kind of moving along with that. It’s like keeping the essence of the sadness, but you work on it and you move forward.
Also, nature is obviously a big part of your music, how do you bring it in? Are you actually getting out there with a microphone?
Yes, I like recording a lot of sounds from life, recording organic elements and sampling them. So a lot of my sounds aren’t actually drums, it’s me doing stuff like dropping keys on the table and running it through lots of effects. I always have my headphones on, I am always listening to a lot of music, I am always tapping, so that’s where my rhythms come from. Because, like I said, my main instruments are guitar based, piano, and then woodwind, but playing drums has never really been my strong point. I have got the rhythm, but that is just not how I build my tracks. I go instruments first, and then drums later, but a lot of people go for the beat first, and then build the rest.
When do the vocals come in?
Vocals are probably the second thing I do. I get a nice chord progression, I love just jamming out and finding nice harmonies, and then I will fit the vocals in on top of those.
And the lyrics? Do they come after the initial harmonies?
Yeah, I find a nice groove and harmony, and then it doesn’t really matter what the lyrics are, as long as that initial hook is there.
What are you listening to at the moment?
I haven’t really been listening to much lately, I have more just been creating. But some of the stuff I am listening to is Petit Biscuit and Mura Masa, also Maribou State is always a recurring theme. Also, Christian Loffler, that’s where my most recent track I am working on is moving.
And you always make your own artwork for your records. Have you always done that?
I have. I studied art as well as music, and then had to decide what was more me. That horrible decision we all have to make at some point; what do I actually want to do with my life? And it was music.
So you have got a new single out, what else is coming up?
I was planning on getting out and doing some live stuff (before the pandemic). The lo-fi stuff I was originally doing, I don’t think it would have been engaging enough to be on stage, with all of those samples. Whilst this new music, there is a lot of live instrumentation, live guitar and bass, it would just be the drums that would be sampled. So I have been working through a few different programmes with which you can run your samples live. That is my goal, by the end of the year, to start gigging. When I was at university I played a lot of piano live, so it’s not something I am not familiar with, but when it’s your own stuff it’s a bit more personal, you are a bit more vulnerable.
Whilst you are waiting for the much-anticipated reopening of our clubs and live music venues, you can keep up to date with xxweesh’s next moves on Facebook and Instagram, buy his new single on Apple Music and listen to more on Spotify here.