From the intimacy of his home studio to the electric sessions in Austin, Tiwayo tells us about the birth of Outsider, an organic album born from a pilgrimage to the roots of soul and the visceral need to return to the stage.
“I had never allowed myself to really make a Soul album,” says Tiwayo straight away.
To do this, head to Texas. To bring to life his demos on which he worked for two years, the artist solicited Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas), whom he placed “at the top of (his) list of producers for this album”. Far from sanitized production, Tiwayo seeks the alchemy of the group, the organic sound of sessions of yesteryear.
“In three days in fact we recorded all the foundations really live and it was great,” he says, still marked by the effectiveness of the Texan method. “It was he who found the musicians, better still, he recruited part of his stage group”, specifies Tiwayoenthusiastic. In the studio, the rule is simple: humans take precedence over machines. For him, this collective work is “the antithesis of artificial intelligence in music” because, there, there are “ten intelligences in the studio” collaborating. Destiny intervened when a local legend, Doyle Bramhall II, pushed the door open: “He came to play just one piece and then he stayed, he played on three.”
A moment of pure grace where the French musician admits that he was “hovering a little” in the face of such creative fluidity.
As for his sound touch, Tiwayo does not hide his obsession with material authenticity.
He refuses modern processors which distort the instrument: “My pedalboard is the most minimalist in the world, but I am very into guitars”. What he's looking for is raw vibration, that of Stax studios or the Royal Studio in Memphis. “I like it when it also goes towards sounds that are a little tougher, a little harder, which tend more towards Blues,” he explains.
This requirement extends to the very format of his work. At the time of the king of singles, he remains a fierce defender of the album format: “I am particularly attached to this format (the album) which seems essential to me for telling a story that has some staying power”. For him, the album is not a commercial constraint, but the essential support to transform a “singular vision into a collective vision”.
But why Outsider ? The title is obvious. Tiwayo assumes this position of withdrawal, almost of a foreign pilgrim: “I don’t think I am the most anticipated representative of this music”. It is precisely this distance that allows him to inject his own truth into centuries-old codes. “My father is the person who introduced me to Blues, Soul, Jazz and generally to American culture and black-American culture.” As a child, he was immersed in this collection of records, a sentimental education which shaped his ears. However, it took him time to dare to face these monuments.
But after the monk's work in the studio, the call of the road becomes urgent.
“I only want to go on stage,” he says, admitting to having “lost something that is essential for (him), which is the stage” in recent years. The return will be with a team of Parisian musicians, for a tour which promises to be a liberation. His date at New Morning will be the high point of this return: “It will almost be our first date for the release of the album”. The Outsider is no longer alone, he now has a story to share.
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