(This article was originally published on the 25th of June, 2018)
[iLiso recently had a chat with Cape Town's alternative-pop genius and saxophonist Albany Lore- real name Matthew Rightford]
Can you describe your experience at the Supaa Session and how did that come about?
The Supaa Session was fantastic, especially because it was my first show. So in some ways it was very intimidating because it's really intimate and quiet, but then that adds to the moments where the music peaks in energy. Like the emotion of the music is captured a lot easier in that setting, which was really cool for me. I've only seen some initial footage off the one camera and it looks great, but I'll only see the final product in a few weeks or so.
Albany Lore is my lore - my story, the musical manifestation of all my experiences
You mentioned that you went to a hiatus of a few years. Did that ‘absence’ from the music scene affect (or impact on) your creative abilities in any way and are there any experiences that have made your music ‘richer’?
Yeah! So, even though I went on hiatus for my solo project I've been involved in music in other capacities since I left high school. I had a band with some good friends for about 2 years, and that grew into us starting a label called 'naas' where we managed artists like Thor Rixon, Card On Spokes and Andy Islands. Another project which came from this was an online music magazine called Platform which I did tons of writing for (artists features, album reviews, live reviews, interviews etc). And then for the past year while I've been working on my solo stuff again. I've played sax for a few bands like Nic Preen and I did a show at Kirstenbosch with a fantastic singer called Alice Phoebe Lou. So yeah, all of this has definitely enriched my experience and my understanding of music and live performance. It's also a big part of where my name comes from, in the sense that Albany Lore is my lore - my story, the musical manifestation of all my experiences.
I share a studio space with my good friend Thor Rixon, who is also a solo artist and producer. Together we write music and produce tracks for other artists, adverts/videos and film. So that's also been a great influence on how I approach making my music, by learning from all the different styles that we apply ourselves to.
Considering the almost ‘primitive’ urge by the art fraternity (and society in general) to push artists into preset categories/genres, how would you best describe your sound?
Haha! Yeah that is such a thing. My taste is pretty eclectic because it stretches from jazz and soul through to techno and gqom. But I guess my stuff would fall into a kind of alternative pop space with a jazz/soul/RnB/electronic edge to it.
I love dancing and I think it's an aspect of music that is both really entertaining and intrinsic to enjoying the music that you're performing or watching.
Where to from here? What can we expect from Mathew in the future?
I always want to make sure that I'm leveling up, so my goal is to gain enough momentum that I can get to a space where I have a full band playing with me. I'd also love to incorporate some more funk into my sound, especially as a cat who plays sax, I'm a sucker for big funk/jazz band horn sections and that vibe of just going completely wild on stage. I also definitely want to incorporate a dance aspect to the show. I love dancing and I think it's an aspect of music that is both really entertaining and intrinsic to enjoying the music that you're performing or watching. But yeah, I definitely want to maintain that my sets are not only good musically, but are also entertaining. That's really important to me, because if people have come to watch you or are just out to have good time, then I think it's really important that they can have fun while they're watching you.
Albany Lore is the solo music project of South African musician Matthew Rightford. As a singer and a saxophonist, he is making sophisti-pop music flooded with influences from jazz, hip-hop, RnB, funk, gqom, indie rock, soul, kwaito/pantsula, house and techno. Albany Lore is the culmination of all these things – his experiences, his learning, his lore - at a time where he's never been more excited about making music.
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