Plastic Life, combines elements from Soul greats (Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Al Green) with subtle folk and African music. The result, produced by Boe Weaver (Rhys Lewis, Jalen N’gonda, Lauren Hibberd), is a light hearted yet introspective soul track that is distinctively his.
Azu expands on this: “’Plastic Life was written out of a need to have an honest conversation without fear. It starts out a bit scared to confront the situation but
progressively gets more assertive and clear. I really loved recording this song with Boe Weaver and they helped me capture that raw, organic, live sound that marries
soul, gospel and blues’”.
What inspired this last release?
The need to have an honest conversation.
What is something you can’t live without?
Music
Any funny anecdotes from the time you were recording or writing this?
I had to travel to Isle of Wight via ferry to record this and I don’t like boats or planes!! So that was a really long hour for me.
What’s your favorite thing to do besides music?
Hang out / Cook
What’s a record or artist that shaped your creativity?
Voyage to India – India Arie (2002) – showed me that modern soul could be broad and incorporate elements from other genres such as folk and hip hop and still be distinctly soul.
Marvin Gaye – The way his voice could be both smooth and rough. The way he could colour a song with the texture of his voice and his backing vocals. It made me think of singing as a really limitless thing.
Aretha Franklin
Who is an artist or band you look up to today?
I love artists like Black Pumas, Michael Kiwanuka, Leon Bridges, Gabriels – who are all finding success making organic soul music.
What excites you the most about what you do?
Performing live for sure
