After a staggering 13 nominations and wins for his debut track and music video ‘Supernatural’, UK artist, songwriter and producer Kwun releases his sophomore single ‘Ancient Ageless & True’ on the 3rd of March 2023. Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
KWUN: I’m from London, and currently split my time between the UK and Tulum in Mexico. I’ve always had a feeling for music since a very early age, writing songs before I could play any instruments, compiling mix tapes of stuff recorded off the radio, recording improvised albums into a tape machine, that kind of thing. So I’ve always loved music.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
KWUN: I’m pretty much self-taught. I started to learn to play the guitar and piano simultaneously when I was 15, and was shown a few things by my friend Cornelius on each of these instruments, but otherwise I pretty much taught myself. I still work with Cornelius, who contributes on my album in various ways. I’m also a producer and I learnt to do that just by doing it!
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘KWUN’?
KWUN: Well firstly, the name Kwun because it’s my name, haha. My first musical influences would have been all the chart stuff I was listening to. That was the only music I knew, not having any older siblings to introduce me to other music. That’s probably where I get my pop sensibilities from. But come about 15 or 16, I started hanging out with friends who knew more music outside of the mainstream. Mainly older stuff, a lot of it from the sixties. So I’d say the strongest musical influence was The Beatles and John Lennon. Loads of stuff really, but if we’re talking my first and strongest influence, then that would be it.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
KWUN: Key elements are beauty, emotion, depth, feeling, melody, rhythm – all the good stuff. It’s all there. Harmony. I produce my own music. There’s great attention to detail and a place for everything, every word, every sound – there’s nothing superfluous. I think listeners pick up on that, if not consciously, then on a subtler level. I would describe my sound as eclectic and lush. Considered yet spontaneous. Driving. Emotive. Melodic. Rhythmic.
5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own eclectic style?
KWUN:
I would say that I’m someone who has listened to and absorbed a lot of music over the years, so have developed a very rich and diverse musical vocabulary in that sense. And while I inevitably reference my influences, it’s very much my own thing that comes out – the influences are like training wheels, if you like. I mean you find everything on this album from the folk-rock of ‘Supernatural’ which was the first single, to afro-beat and funk inspired stuff, soul inspired tracks to the country song ‘Ancient Ageless & True’ which was my last single, and then with some hard rock and acid jazz thrown into the mix. But it’s all me. It’s the same spirit that runs through it all, that gives it that cohesion. As far as emulation goes, I would hold my hands up to emulating John Lennon when I started writing many years ago. But that was a long time ago, and it went on from there.
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
KWUN:
All of the above I’d say. I don’t think we can or should contrive these things too much. I mean, if something needs to be spiritual or political or whatever else it needs to be at the time of writing, then that’s what it needs to be. And it can also be simultaneously purely an expression, or a personal narrative. And be entertaining. As long as it’s authentic, a piece of music or song is just whatever it needs to be.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
KWUN:
Until I release more material and release my album, it’s hard to answer that question fully. Though in making the music so far, I get a huge amount of fulfillment from doing that. I get a huge amount of fulfillment from making music videos. I expect as the music becomes better known, I will benefit in other ways. But first and foremost the music was made to fulfill a need to make it. So in that sense it’s given me back a huge amount already.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
KWUN: Yes, well it really depends. It’s so different all the time and for each song. Sometimes I like to go old school and start with a guitar or a piano, craft the entire song, get all the lyrics and arrangement in place before I start recording a single note. Other times I may start with a loop and build a song around that as I go. Or maybe start off with a chord sequence or a beat and start recording and building around that. Whichever way I go, the lyrics – if there are lyrics to the track – are every bit as important as the music, so there’s always a focus there, a theme and intention in mind for those. I don’t often collaborate with other for this part of the process. The collaboration comes when the musicians, and string or horn arrangers, contribute their unique parts. That further shapes the song which then becomes the sum of everyone’s contribution, with me as the director, I guess.
9. What would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
KWUN: Well, being still new to this scene, if we’re talking music career, there is one thing that comes to mind, which I was just talking to a friend about tonight. Not so much a singular tangible achievement, but more just a moment which was very meaningful. So over Christmas last year, I hurriedly flew back to the UK from Mexico to put a band together for a live filming project in London. In the space of two and a half weeks, with a lot of help from my friends and filmmakers/musical artists Jason and Lydia Carter, and from Cornelius, we somehow put together a live band, with top notch session musicians who between them had played with the likes of Adele, Peter Gabriel and Annie Lennox. Complete with full film crew, sound engineer and a string quartet, we filmed and recorded 3 of my songs. The significant moment came when the string quartet started rehearsing the arrangement for ‘Supernatural’. No other musicians playing, just them. Amidst all the non-stop craziness that had led up to that point, when they started playing, time just stood still, and I became aware of all the hard work that had led up to that point. And the realization that I’d created all of this and that everyone was there to play my songs, just really choked me up. It was really poignant and had to fight back the tears. Also I just have an amazing team behind me now, from an excellent promotions team to filmmakers, musicians to mix engineers, a mentor and more. So I’m really proud of that as well.
10. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
KWUN: I don’t think it’s that important that fans should understand the meaning necessarily. What’s important is their own experience of the music and the words, and what it does for them. If they want to delve deeper into the meaning, then that’s cool too. But first and foremost it’s a feeling thing, we don’t need to get clever and intellectualize about how music makes us feel because it means something or other. So yeah, absolutely free to interpret in their own personal way.
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