Sailing in the realm of smooth jazz within Southern London is the multi-instrumentalist Akin Soul. Since beginning his career, Akin Soul has performed at legendary venues that include All Point's East Festival, Off The cuff, The Garage, Nambucca, and BBC Music Day at Pop Brixton, and has formed the group Akin Soul & The Soul Tribe. Recently, Akin Soul released his charming esoteric single "I Want You," and this one is not one you would want to miss out on.
Instantly while listening to "I Want You," we were taken to a colorful bliss that is full of unique textures from the horn section and the help of a wobbling synth that create the perfect backdrop for Akins deeply intimate vocals to tell us about how much he wants you. Then picking it up in the second verse and carrying to the rest of "I Want You" comes an incredibly punchy drum kit with an ever so slick bass groove that quickly gets our body flowing to the rhythm. From start to end, "I Want You" is a vivid sound experience that can keep you at the edge of your seat, waiting to hear what will come next. Whether it will be a flair of a pitch bend or a new colorful chord, or even an awe-inspiring lyric from Akin, "I Want You" is a record that we think that everyone will be able to enjoy.
You can find “I Want You” here.
Welcome to BuzzMusic Akin Soul! We are absolutely in love with your release “I Want You”! What was the inspiration behind the songwriting of this one?
Thank you! 'I Want You' was written about 3 years ago. The song was inspired by a song by Janet Jackson - 'I get so lonely'. My producer at the time, Steve Holmes, happened to also be my Keyboard teacher. He taught me how to play the Janet Jackson progression and gave me the challenge of simplifying it. I was later at a mates house and was playing around with the chords and created 'I Want You' at that moment. I feel like the main message of 'I Want You' is just showing my life and who I am in a fun way. I've always said it's a fun teenage crush song that reveals young Akin Soul's story.
We are loving the modern jazz flair you have going on in “I Want You”! How do you decide when to do a bend in the instrumentation or use more colorful chords? Are they part of your initial songwriting?
Thank you very much ahaha! My chords absolutely are attached to my emotion and feelings at different moments when writing songs. It totally depends on how I feel in that very moment which affects what I end up hearing in my mind chord-wise. I then go on to project that sound on the keys/guitar or sometimes just with my voice at first.
It’s amazing to hear you have performed at so many iconic shows, what would some of your favorite moments be? What are some of the things that get you fired up for each show?
One of my favorite moments is when me and my band are playing and I just fall into a trance, I honestly sometimes get chills when I'm in the moment. There's something so special in the music. An iconic moment I remember at a gig in Pop Brixton was when the music had stopped as the sound system had been cut out and you could hear the audience carrying on singing my song. It touched me very much to hear others engaging in my very own composition. I sometimes also get to step out whilst performing and just realize the whole band are playing a piece that I had envisioned and created on one random day, I'm very grateful and happy to have this.
It’s incredibly exciting to be able to perform with such a large group, what were some of the challenges of that task and how did you overcome it? How does it feel live to have that whole group behind you?
It indeed is incredible! I've always loved the look and sound of a Jazz Big Band such as Dizzy Gillespie's Big Band and Count Basie's orchestra and not to forget Duke's records with his Orchestra. I took on influence and initially created the 12-piece band 'Akin Soul and The Soul Tribe'. In the past, it was challenging staying ontop by catering for every individual's needs. On top of that, I wanted the band to sound tight and the band has always consisted of my very close friends and so it at some points it was hard to put my foot down all the time. However, I've luckily learned different professional ways to handle various situations throughout the years. It's the best thing ever to have my family playing with me, it's not the same playing alone. There is so much expression, communication, and love on stage when performing with the Soul Tribe.
What else can we expect for 2020? 2020 will see more new music from Akin Soul with my next single already in the Oven and coming out within the next month or so! I will be recording with my band this year and releasing more music. There has been a lot of writing, development, and growth working with different writers and producers so stay tuned!