By: Staff
Mutomba, the solo project of the Leicester-born artist with roots in Zimbabwe, has delivered a striking new single, “The Low,” showcasing his unique blend of influences and emotional depth.
Mutomba is quickly establishing himself as a standout artist with a distinctive sound by both his recordings and accomplishments with an engaging fan audience.
The track delves into the theme of unbalanced love, portraying a story where one individual sacrifices more than the other in a relationship. The song reflects Mutomba's attempt to convey the discomfort and difficult decisions associated with one-sided love.
The recording of “The Low” involved a memorable session with Callum Sansome, who contributed the lead guitar. Please see the very exciting interview below for more about this.
The tracks impact: Mutomba operates as a solo act but records performances that are more powerful that most orchestras. How a song is performed matters, but how a song makes you feel is what makes it iconic. This song has such an explosive introduction, that you have no choice but to listen all the while, delicate notes of jazz twinkle in your ears. A balance the beautiful and soulful voice of Mutomba creates the magic that this song leaves in your heart. The electric guitar is golden and dazzles like the Hope Diamond. This performance by Callum Sansome is above, beyond, and frankly astounding. The twinkling and bells and boiling over effects of the notes are awe inspiring. Combine this with Mutomba signature styling and we arrive right back at “magic”.
Emotional Impact on the listener: The song’s arrangement captures the tension and resolution in the narrative, blending soulful melodies with a poignant lyrical exploration of emotional disparity. Plain English, this track will pull your emotions straight to the surface and make you feel great!
You can find “The Low” on all major streaming platforms. Make sure to listen, share, and follow Mutomba’s journey as he continues to push the boundaries of his craft.
Powerful Quote about this artist:
“With heart tempered in the home of the foxes, and eyes firmly locked on the world, Mutomba is truly an artist like no other”
Wait, there's more!
We caught up with this exciting and emerging artist, for:
“The Cage” Music Blog, to talk about music and learn more about them.
Here’s how it went:
BEGIN INTERVIEW:
Hello Mutomba, we’re thrilled to have you for this interview. We've enjoyed diving into your music and learning about your work, but we're eager to discover even more about you personally and professionally.
We read this:
“Mutomba is a Zimbabwean artist from Leicester, UK.” and “I’m from Leicester, by way of Zimbabwe.”
We aren’t familiar with either of these places. Can you tell us a little about this journey, why you chose to make it, and what impact it has had on you both personally and professionally?
We moved to the UK from Zimbabwe when I was turning 6. I don’t have too many memories of my time there but I can distinctly remember the feeling of stepping out of the plane and that England breeze hitting me for the first time.
My mum who was studying to be a nurse at the time, had already moved to the UK and now having sorted out housing etc had come back to take us with her. England felt weird through the eyes of little me, with everything seeming oddly grey. Some of my earliest musical memories are of my mum playing Oliver Mtukudzi records in our apartment at the time.
Being an immigrant from a young age and growing up in the UK, there’s always been a lingering feeling of being out of place, even when we’ve gone back home. It took a while but I did eventually learn to embrace the dissonance of it, and learned to appreciate the unique outlook my background gives me.
“My song The Low is story about two people wanting different things from a relationship, and one person (as always) compromising more than the other!”
Was this song about your or someone else you witnessed this happening to? Is the relationship issue resolved or is the relationship dissolved? (we were kind of stoked we made that rhyme lol)
The Low is purely, completely, entirely and most definitely a work of fiction, I swear..
However, I may (or may not) have taken inspiration from various people and experiences I’ve come across. While one line may be based on one person, the next line might be from a completely separate but similar situation. For what it’s worth, I’d say that I’ve at some point been in the position of both characters portrayed in the song, and I think the ambiguous nature of the lyrics give a nice platform for people to form their own interpretations of the song/characters etc. Although I do like to imagine that the characters in this instance ended up choosing the good ending aha
“Along a string of BBC introducing features and interviews, the past year has seen me dip into the world of live performances; with 5 under my belt now, the most recent one being a sold out local show at a brand new venue in Leicester (Galiant Presents: Caterpillar)”
Whoah! Sold out is amazing! How did that feel and how has it impacted your decisions on future performances?
It was surreal to say the least haha; To see an event that we all put so much time and effort into take shape and come to life the way it did would already have been enough for me, but to then share the stage with some wonderful musicians that I also get to call my friends was really the icing on the cake. It’s safe to say that it left all of us eager to do so much more, we’ve got some exciting ideas that we’re working on for future shows
We read this:
“One of my favourite memories from making the song was being in a session with Callum Sansome (@callumsansome) who did the lead guitar for the track. We’d been in for a couple of hours, and having dialled in a 3rd/4th rendition of the solo that closes out the song, he looks at me and asks “do you like it? Does it sound bad? You can tell me if you hate it” Meanwhile I’m sat there bewildered by what to me, seemed like 10/12 straight minutes of magic.”
How did it feel that someone you look up to was so interested in your professional opinion and how will that forge your future music works, i.e will you collaborate with more artists after this experience?
What he doesn’t realise is that he’s stuck with me now. There’s definitely something special about getting a few musicians in a room and on the same page, because you never know what will come out of it, there’s something I love about that kind of chaos. I don’t have a lot of experience in band environments but I’m for sure going to be incorporating that sound into a lot more of my music going forward.
We read this:
“Last year my friends and I started setting up events across Leicester, trying to put a spotlight on the city’s creative talents. One of our previous shows (my last EP launch party) was held in my friend Aris’ (@masterkilla) tattoo studio.”
This sounds amazing. You are an indie artist already opening doors for other creatives!!! How has the experience been? What are the major end goals for this?
Leicester is incredibly diverse, and as you can imagine the amount of talent it harbours is equally staggering. The issue is that just from inhabiting the city you would never guess! You really have to search to find the people doing their thing, but once you do, you realise just how far the rabbit hole stretches. From my time over the years connecting with the city’s creatives, I know just how talented the people here are, and the idea of them not getting the spotlight that they deserve leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Long term, I see Galiant as a leader in the UK when it comes to highlighting the brightest stars that would otherwise go unnoticed
We read this:
The collective that I’m in (Galiant) has a little multifunctional creative space that I’ve been recording everything in since February. We call it The Studio due to lack of a better name (Nobody seemed to like my suggestion of ‘The Dungeon’ for whatever reason) and I’m hoping that in the long run, it can be a hub that nurtures the city’s talent.
Do you ever rest? We see a mogul in the making! We heard some things, tell us the funny stories behind it please.
Haha I’d definitely say the business acumen of a mogul is there, a strong 60-65% of the studio is comprised of things I’ve found from facebook marketplace. Anything you need, I’m confident in my ability to find it for you for £30 or less!
The Studio is the floor above a vintage clothing store so it’s always amusing bringing someone in for the first time and seeing the slightly worried look on their faces when you lead through the back of the retail counter. It’s nice to sit on the window sill so equally as fun is the inquisitive looks we get from people walking by and hearing the most bizarre sounds coming from the room
How long have you been making music?
I started seriously making music at the start of 2023! Although I’ve dabbled in and out for most of my life; a few verses here, a couple beats there, that sort of thing. Foundational for sure but never anything substantial.
Was there always a desire to create music, or did you have an event in your life that made you realize this is what you want to do as a profession?
For sure! I’ve had an adoration for music since I was a child, but was also a very very shy and timid kid haha. The older I got, the less I cared and the more comfortable I got doing things that felt right for myself, first and foremost. I’d tried to write and record things for years but it wasn’t until a breakup at the start of 2023 that the floodgates kind of opened up for me musically.. Funny how that works huh?
What was the most challenging part of bringing this project to life, from the initial idea to the final recording?
The part I’ve always found the hardest has been the writing process to be honest. I feel like it’s the weakest part of my skill set (along with vocals, for now!) so it’s what I tend to spend the most amount of time obsessing over. For this song, it took a few months to write multiple iterations of the second verse, only to decide that Callum’s guitar solo fit better than anything I’d written for that section! I’m working on it though, I want to improve with every project and I know that the work needs to be put in to see that change I’m aiming for.
How do you feel about social media?
I see it as a tool, first and foremost. Through it I’ve been able to connect with people I never could have dreamed of otherwise. The most important thing is balance, and being able to separate reality from the ‘reality’ of social media. It’s a necessary evil.
When you reach the stage where you have the admiration and respect of other world-known artists, what band or artist would you love to call and say, “Let’s go on tour together”?
Going on tour with them is out of the question for sure, but being able to record, write, talk, or work with Andre 3000 in any shape or form would be a highlight moment of my life for sure. However, if I could pick a band to go on tour with it would be Thee Sacred Souls. I think it would be magical to work with them. They came to Birmingham last year and we had the pleasure to speak to them after the show. Josh Lane showed us pictures of his cat.
End Interview
Check out this latest release and listen to more of Mutomba on Spotify & YouTube.
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