Mwami is inspired by the dancefloor beats of Uganda where he’s from—but also by anime shows like Cowboy Bebop. He has the focus, intelligence and precision of an artist who knows what he wants. Currently working on a graphic novel around his debut EP‘protean’ that came out last fall. We chatted about evolving collaboration, artists to watch & more.
So how’s it been going so far?
Mwami:“It’s been going well. I’ve just been amassing beats and a sound library that I think later on I can come back to and play around with. Which I’ve never had—before everything has been on an idea per idea basis and I’ve never had a selection of stuff which I can pick and choose from. A lot of it feels usable though and it doesn’t feel like little demos—it’s like ok this is substantial and could build to a project. The focus has been on getting stand alone singles and songs but something is beginning to build so..we’ll see what comes of it.”
How many tracks do you have after 2 weeks in the studios?
Mwami:“There’s like 6 or 7 ideas that lean into a cohesive consistent thing and there's 3 or 4 other ones that are just loops that I like a lot that can build into songs — probably 10 solid ideas and the writing will be its own process and that will trim stuff down.”
That seems like a good starting place!
Mwami:“I’ve never been this productive making music ever... I’m genuinely impressed. At first I was like‘Yo this is tiring’ but then yesterday and the day before I was able to be in here(the studio) longer than a week ago and I saw it picking up.”
That’s why we almost suggested having you do two sessions a day! Do you have equipment to add vocals later at home?
Mwami:“Yes and also friends and other people I know well who will let me use their equipment. Even just learning about being in the room with people and in person has been really eye-opening for me. Like I was telling you before that hasn’t been part of my process, and then here—being able to cycle through each thing—try this or that. I want to do more of that.”
What kind of music are you inspired by?
Mwami:“Lately it’s been Afro House…South African house. There’s some Nigerian Alté, Old Kwaito Lingala stuff that I’m listening to but I’ve never had the opportunity to let that music feed into what I’m doing. It’s always been siloed so it’s been cool to try and make some more music that I would listen to myself.”
Who are 3 African Artists that we should all be listening to?
Mwami:“Santi from Nigeria but I think people kind of know who he is now. Josh Forehead he’s a rapper from Uganda. Um and nufvnk he’s from Kenya.”
You mentioned earlier that your current collaborators have been from different parts of the world. How did you meet them?
Mwami:“One of them I went to school with and the other one I met through a mutual friend who was also a collaborator. And they’ve all never met each other before so it’s all online—pieces from one person and then I do something, like a conveyor belt of sorts. Doing this kind of thing has shown me how I can better utilize them for different things. Maybe starting stuff first on my own, who needs to see what at a certain point—it’s been a way to shake up my process and try different things.”
Are you going to be working towards a full length project in the near future?
Mwami:“Eventually. But I definitely do want to be able to put out music without the pressure of it being for anything.”
Is an album really important to you as an artist? A lot of artists put so much weight on the first project.
Mwami:“I’m not able to NOT be project oriented. I’m always thinking“Oh this works with this” or“This works here” but I do like the sound of having things sit by themselves. The problem with the album mentality is that everything gets super serious and I’m not able to enjoy the process as much. With Damar Davis there were some ideas that were lighthearted and just felt like they could exist on their own.
With the last project — did you know right away which songs would be singles?
Mwami:“I had a feeling, yeah. I felt like some of the EP wouldn’t have made sense if one or two of the other songs had been the singles—the more electronic dance-y songs needed to be prefaced or they wouldn’t have made sense in the EP. Everyone I played it for kind of agreed.”
Mwami is inspired by the dancefloor beats of Uganda where he’s from—but also by anime shows like Cowboy Bebop. He has the focus, intelligence and precision of an artist who knows what he wants. Currently working on a graphic novel around his debut EP ‘protean’ that came out last fall. We chatted about evolving collaboration, artists to watch & more.