If you heard Lil Silva’s newly released music without any context, it’d be easy to lump him in with many of the artists who are changing the way we think about R&B in 2014. Especially with the inclusion of L.A.-based vocalist BANKS on two songs from his new EP, Mabel, you might not realize that this project is a “coming out” of sorts for the English producer, who’s now letting us hear his voice and songwriting abilities fully.
On his 2011 EP, The Patience, and his 2013 EP, The Distance, Lil Silva worked with singer Sampha on the projects’ standout songs, “On Your Own” and “Salient Sarah.” Throughout, Sampha and another collaborator, Jamie Woon, encouraged Lil Silva to share his vocals on his own tracks. He also worked (and quietly sang) with vocalist Rosie Lowe on The Distance’s opening song, “No Doubt.” They sing, “I said, don't let them doubt what you've been searching for / I said, don't let them doubt what you've been working for.”
Mabel, an EP dedicated to Lil Silva’s grandmother, opens with the line, “You rep for the ends, now it’s time for the ends to let you go.” The opening statements of both EPs suggest that Lil Silva is continually turning away from what’s been expected from him and from what’s previously held him back. He’s departing and evolving.
24-year-old Lil Silva, whose real name is TJ Carter, has been making music since he was 10. When he was 16, he started playing grime and garage at clubs before joining the Macabre Unit crew, eventually linking up with the alternative Night Slugs label and defining the UK Funky sound of mid-2000s English dance music. Despite his past innovating within the underground, Lil Silva is poised to challenge and reshape mainstream pop music, should he decide to keep going in the direction of the Mabel EP.
We talked to Lil Silva about helping BANKS on her debut album, Goddess, getting the confidence to sing on this new release, and how L.A. was instrumental in giving him the space to lay these thoughts down.
I didn’t think about the structure, I just thought of this thing building from start to finish with no rules.
What’s given you the confidence to share your voice on this EP? You sang on “No Doubt” with Rosie Lowe on your last EP, The Distance, but do you feel liberated now that you’re sharing your voice fully on multiple songs?
Working with Sampha and Jamie Woon and just vibing with them—it’s something I’ve been doing in the studio for a while. When I make my beats, sometimes I loop my voice before I actually build the track itself. The team around me gave me the confidence. I’d play them something, even just like an idea, and they'd be like, “Can you keep singing it?” It’s just the family I’ve had around me that gave me the confidence.
When you were working with Sampha on your last EP, did he directly encourage you to sing more?
He definitely helped with my confidence. He encouraged me to let the world hear it, so did Jamie [Woon]. Artistically, it all happened naturally. I was introducing little bits here and there—my vocals—but none of it had been as much as with this EP. It’s definitely more with this project. It still started with loops I’d recorded, though. I’d just start playing them and have a mad idea. Sometimes that’s the best. Unless you define a sound you’re after, that can be the best way to write.
When did you meet and start collaborating with BANKS? Did she inspire you to dive into some of the more R&B-esque vocals and love song lyrics on the album, like “Right for You” and “Don’t You Love”?
The first time we met was in London through the label Good Years. We got to work, but there was so much behind her voice, I felt. It was at a time when I was experimenting and adapting my sound. It developed into what I’ve done next. It was an instant vibe in the studio. It’s so great working with her. It’s nice going back and forth with someone when they “get” it. She gets what’s going on. “This Is What It Feels Like,” in fact, was written at such an amazing moment. Working with her on that was amazing.
“Don’t You Love” was a melody that had been in my head. I just kept coming back to it. I kept thinking, “I’ve got it, now I’ve got to put it down and layer this thing.” It was just mad. I had all these mad ideas coming to me, and I was wondering where they were going to go. I didn’t think about the structure, I just thought of this thing building from start to finish with no rules—like verse, chorus, verse, chorus...I just wanted something to build from the start. BANKS came in, and she started singing a melody for the hook, and it was perfect. It has soul but also this gritty darkness—an R&B effect. It’s so mad how it all came together.
Are you still working with Sampha at all?
Of course, definitely. Yes, we’re still working together. I don’t know if I can say what’s going on, but he’s...
He’s working on an album? You don’t have to say.
Yes! He’s working on an album at the minute.
Is Mabel, the name of both the EP and the title track, also the name of your grandmother?
Yeah, she’s my grandmother.
I had been making other stuff, but I hadn’t been playing it out. I used to think, 'What would they think if I played this sort of stuff?'
The “Mabel” video, as an ode to her, also has a lot of other layers about youth life in England. What was your goal for the visual with the director, Laura Colson?
My favorite thing about it was how they made the photos in my room at the beginning...just being able to affect people in different ways. It was natural; it felt right. Especially the room...it’s just like her presence was still around.
The whole song is about her. Although she’s gone, her “love don’t fade away.” People have lost things, things have happened to people. The video is like a new day. The people in the video are still getting on. There are school kids. I’ve heard a few people refer to it as the end of a school day. It’s about starting new chapters and stuff.
It’s pretty mad what my grandmother did for me. When I turned 21, I had no idea that I was going to be left a sum of money to go toward what I wanted to do with my career. It was really mad. She’s gone, but she’s not really gone. I wanted to feel her presence in and out of that video, because I only really knew her around the time I was in school. She died when I was young. I wanted the video to look like back then.
On “First Mark,” you open with, “You rep for the ends, now it’s time for the ends to let you go.” It sounds very intentional and direct. Does that, in any way, relate to your music itself? Like a departure from the kinds of music that you were making before? Or is it just purely conceptual?
“You rep for the ends, now it’s time for the ends to let you go.” I mean, it’s funny to me. It can mean so many things to people. It’s my hometown. They’ve really let me go, ‘cause I’ve jetsetted here and there and come back home. There’s your home, but there’s also so much more to the world. You have so many people who rely on you that you can’t be in one place forever. There is more than one place.
I don’t want it to come across like I’m leaving in the ends; the ends are terrible, the worst thing to ever happen to me. It's more like, I’ve taken in so much from here already, but I've finally gone on from it, and it's still with me. I never want anyone to think I sold out, you know, just accept that I’ve gone on to other things, but I'm still going to be here.
It’s not good being in four walls and trying to create music. I don’t believe in that. I don’t believe you can. You have to live.
The music that you’re making now is excellent, but it’s certainly a departure from what you initially came out with. Have you ever felt boxed in by your association with UK funky when trying to move on musically? Do you feel like people are enforcing these expectations for you to make “hard” music?
I’ve always had a sound. The only thing I’ve done is adapt it. I hope that whatever I do next, people will listen to it. After you listen, you might be like, “Oh, that’s Silva” and pick up on little bits and elements of what I did back then.
I never want to lose what I did. I’m not trying to be anything else but myself. At one point I was branded as playing and making hard stuff, but I never really secluded myself to one world of music. It was never that; it was just the sound. I can always do the hard stuff. It depends on how I feel, and I feel like I’ve had enough of that. I wanted to adapt to something else. There are so many producers out there making similar music, and I guess I’ve just had enough of sticking to one lane. I’m on my own.
Did I feel boxed in to make just one thing? I had been making other stuff, but I hadn’t been playing it out. I used to think, “What would they think if I played this sort of stuff?” You don’t play that stuff at a different tempo. You’d play stuff at like 130 BPM plus in the club during that bass era.
It depends on what you want to do—if you want to be stuck in that world, in that genre. I like to describe my stuff as a genre of its own. It’s just a sound. It’s how you pick up on peoples’ music and if it doesn’t sound like anything else. I respect people like Sampha, because he’s got a very strong sound. SBTRKT has a strong sound, BANKS has this dark, moody sound, and so does Jamie Woon, with the way he did the loop pedal stuff. Those are all people who have created their own lanes.
Is it true that you make over 80 tracks a month? How do you filter down from that?
I make quite a few recordings. I’ll go somewhere and literally just record whatever’s going on in my head for two to three minutes. If you have an idea, you’ve just got to let it down, straight away. It’s not that I would lose it, but it wouldn’t sound right the third time I probably sung it in my head. There are a lot of unfinished ideas and tracks, but quite a few I need to go through still.
So we had the hook, 'He ain’t right for you,' and then BANKS came, and she just nailed it.
Are you still splitting your time between L.A. and the UK, or was L.A. just a chapter for you? Do you think of L.A. as a second home?
I haven’t spent a long enough time there to be like, “This is home.” It could be a place where I would possibly settle for a few months—3-4 months maybe. There was quite a bit going on down here [in London], so it was good to get away and have the new space—new feel, new surroundings. If I’m going on a walk for an hour or two in L.A., I don’t know where I’m going. It’s refreshing to have new scenery.
It’s not good being in four walls and trying to create music. I don’t believe in that. I don’t believe you can. You have to live. Going over there and having a little time out, and then doing the BANKS album, as well, was such a great ride. Working on the BANKS album and then making the song “Right For You"—that was just an idea I had from having space. That was an issue of walking back from somewhere, and I just kept singing this ad lib. I had just done this hook straight over it, and I was like, I have get back to the studio. Then I got back and just laid it down, and I had Rob Ackroyd [of Florence and the Machine] come through. He came through with this riff and was like, “This is just a loop?” Then I was like, “I need to make this a song.” So we had the hook, “He ain’t right for you,” and then BANKS came, and she just nailed it.
With L.A., I guess it was just the space. It was really good. I needed that.
How do you feel about the music coming out of England these days? Is there anything new and inspiring to you, or any vocalists you’re gravitating towards, whether or not you would work with them?
I honestly haven’t heard too much that I’m crazy about. I’ve just come off of mad writing days. I need to get back into listening. The last thing I listened to was the Little Dragon album and the new FKA Twigs. I did some work with Twigs back in the day. I’ve been listening to SZA.
Do you have any interest in making a full-length album next, or do you prefer the length of an EP?
I definitely want to do an album. It could be the next thing. I’m honestly just ready to get back in the studio and write. I’ve got shows and stuff coming up. I’m looking forward to all of it. I’m so mad; my head is just really buzzing to lay some of these ideas out, especially if there are, like, 80 tracks in a month! [Laughs] I’m definitely more driven now that I’ve been getting so much good feedback for the EP. I’m ready to get on the next thing, to be honest. It could be a body of work with a lot more than five tracks.
What are your plans to tour the EP?
I’m working on a tour. I’m trying to do it live, but a few things are still on the drawing board.
You should tour with BANKS, so she can sing her parts on the new songs.
Well, yeah, the tour with BANKS is going to be in September. It will be cool to do the live stuff.
You’ve been doing this for so long, you must feel like a veteran already. I read something where you said you could get away with releasing some of the songs you did when you were 10 or 11.
I recently found an old hard drive with music. I can’t do anything with it, because of the quality, but it was so mad listening to it. I’ve had this sound since I was 11 or 12 years old without really knowing what that even meant. As in, I owned a sound from back then, and it hasn’t really changed. I kind of adapted it the whole way through until now.
It’s just naturally developed into this. I always sung back in the day. When you’re in the teen ages, it’s not like singing is “cool” or not. I was just a really quiet person, I guess. When I started releasing music, it was a way for me to get whatever was going on in my head across. Up until now, I hadn’t actually built the confidence up to work alongside these people. And they’ve been like, “It’s cool, this is amazing. Let people hear this stuff, your vocals.”
I’m just ready to do more. There’s so much more from myself to give. Yeah, let’s just get this one out the way! [Laughs] The feedback on this project has been amazing. I’m like, “Should I have done it sooner?” I think it’s the right time, because I know I’ve got more of a clear view of what the sound is and where it’s going. It’s great.
I’ve had this sound since I was 11 or 12 years old without really knowing what that even meant.
The EP feels like just a taste of what the full-length album could be. Also, with BANKS’ popularity rising...
She’s the best. She’s my partner in this, man. She’s cool. She suggested that we make a little documentary of our studio sessions. They’re special.
I read somewhere else that you and BANKS could just put out a joint album, just you two.
Yeah, definitely. I literally just have some drafts. I send her ideas back and forth. I’m ready to get back in the studio with her, as well. I’m actually flying out to L.A. sometime next week, so yeah, I’m back out there.
Is there anything else you wanted to add?
Yeah. Take your dreams seriously.
