Vicktor Taiwò Returns With The Experimental Soul of "blue Mountain ridge"

Vicktor Taiwò's debut album 'Joy Comes In Spirit' is on the way.

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vicktor taiwo

Vicktor Taiwò has been focusing on music since 2012 and we've been following his output since 2013, but 2018 is the year his debut album will come out. Born in Nigeria, Vicktor and his family moved to London when he was 8 years old and, as is so often the case, the church choir became his introduction to performing music.

This year, he has already released one project, First Movement, which was with an accompanying short film, and is a prelude to his debut album Joy Comes In Spirit. "It is an album best enjoyed in a space of intentional focus," he tells us. "First Movement—amongst other things—is the invitation into that space. It’s sort of the key that unlocks the entire album." 

Today, we're premiering "blue Mountain ridge," a sweeping song that puts on display both Viktor's incredible vocal range and his penchant for unexpected production choices and arrangements. "The sonic identity of the album came from this song," he explains. "Like a few others on the album, the song itself was stream of consciousness. But the production took probably 4/5 months on and off. Mostly in friend's living rooms and some headphones—just searching for the soundscape that felt fresh and true to me." 

This single and the upcoming album are being released via Innovative Leisure, and Vicktor uses a quote from James Baldwin's 1962 essay The Creative Process to illustrate his approach to recording Joy Comes In Spirit:

“But the conquest of the physical world is not man’s only duty. He is also enjoined to conquer the great wilderness of himself. The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.” 

"This is the mental frame I was in while making this record," Vicktor elaborates. "An attempt to understand and navigate my own internal space through the outworking of thoughts and creative ideas during a period of intense focus. A grueling process. It’s difficult to attempt to see yourself as you really are. But it’s ultimately what must happen before real change occurs. And for me, the experience was transformative."

Listen to "blue Mountain ridge" above and catch up with his "First Movement" short film below.

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