
“We set up a studio session at the National Theatre in Kampala and I was working with the Zawose Family from Bagamoyo, Tanzania. One day, I heard Pendo Zawose using some really interesting vocal techniques. I was very captivated by her so I thought let’s try something. I got my friend Narch, a producer, involved - his sound is raw and dirty. Her voice was also very raw but beautiful. I thought, let’s see if these two worlds can meet. I put the track on and she did it in one take! That [the making of Blast] was really the start of these otherworldly sounds of East Africa. Really breaking down that notion of the stereotypical, primitive sounds. It was like yeah, we can do that; we can give you that, but we can also think outside the box we usually put in. That was a really mind-blowing time for me.”