June 13, 2023 |
Melting into an unflinching rush of life and colour, Tendai (who usually spells his name with entirely lowercase lettering) is an artist who refuses to be short-circuited. Hailing from Canning Town, East London, the 23-year-old multi-instrumentalist, performer, producer, and singer/songwriter, has made his mark, fast ascending into stardom following the release of his debut EP only last year and signing on with 0207 Def Jam in 2021, the same year he co-produced Stormzy’s last album, This Is What I Mean. Since then, Tendai has executive produced Stormzy’s 2023 record, Hide & Seek / I Got My Smile Back, dropped the first part of the project and was nominated for the Ivor Novello Rising Star Award.
Inspired by film, the richness of London culture and life around him and his musical heroes Damon Albarn and Sade, Tendai, who has synesthesia, once described his sound as “dark purple”. Here he illustrates something else – something sentient – releasing the second instalment of his lauded triptych, Three.Two. Featuring the effervescent tracks, ‘Why Can’t I’, ‘Champion Lover’ and ‘Come So Far’, it’s a quasi-album ahead of the curve and arrives on the back of April’s Three.One. “…this part of the story shows the beginning of self indulgence, the playfulness of romance and the confusion around growing and changing. The music is thick, in places quite warm, in others it bites. But ultimately I feel it tells the truth,” the polymath said in the notes on release.
When collated, the three-part project tells the story of a very tumultuous year in Tendai’s life with musicality that veers between R&B, hip-hop and something a little more pop. Once it’s all out, it’ll include nine poetic tracks (three per instalment) where electrifying synths pulsate, blurry melodies amalgamate and playful drums beat.
Here, we sat down with the ambitious musician to dig deeper into Three.Two, the art of film and his ability to smell bullshit.
1. Who’s one artist you would want to collaborate with on your next project?
“Ganavya – an incredible Indian vocalist. She sings from the spirit, for the spirit.”
2. Describe your sound in just a sentence.
“A sonic that is literally breathing.”
3. What lyric from Three.Two means the most to you?
“‘He was a champion lover, champion lover. She was a champion lover, champion lover.‘ I love the back and forth of devout lovers trying to figure things out.”
4. What’s your favourite memory from recording “Three.two?
“When we were producing ‘Why Can’t I’ and Alastair, Blake and I all realised the sound we had stumbled upon. That instrumental was made almost accidentally, but what it showed us was we could dive into these pockets more!”
5. You frequently refer to analog cinema and film in your work – it’s visually apparent in the “Why Can’t I” music video too. What’s your first significant film memory and why are you so drawn to the medium?
“My first real memory of film was going through photo albums as a child. Pictures all shot on my mother’s Olympus AF10. The possibility of freezing moments in time fascinated me. My love for film started in photography, then bled into motion pictures.”
6. What’s your favourite film then?
“My favourite film is Human Traffic by Justin Kerrigan. I love everything about it.”
7. What does your ideal Saturday night look like?
“I don’t have an ideal Saturday night, they are usually spent in mad different ways. If I had to have one, I’d say at home candles on, incense happening. Cotch.”
8. What’s your dream venue to play and why?
“There is this hill in Dover. Incredible energy. I have always had this picture in my head of doing a concert there.”
9. What secret talent do you have that nobody knows about?
“The secret talent I have is the ability to smell bullshit through cement walls.”
10. What have you got in store for the near future?
“The future holds the beginnings of a story. A triptych, three songs per chapter. Narrating through sound in soliloquy, the story of a most frightening year.”
Photography courtesy of Tendai.
