Tamaraebi shares his new single 'Telephone'
THE FOLLOW UP TO ‘BROWN ANGEL’:
“Shades of D’Angelo and the Weeknd in this languid, falsetto-led fever dream from the
Nigerian-born London-based soul artist.”
The Times
“Creating woozy, swaying beats in the same vein as The Weeknd, Prince and Miguel,
he elevates nostalgic sounds in tandem with inimitable skills as a wordsmith;
he is a storyteller with a modern edge.”
The Line Of Best Fit
"Like beads of sweat on a scorching hot day, the singer’s vocals smoothly ride the slow-moving bass line, catching the echoing 80s-funk keys and soul-drenched guitars along the way." Wonderland
“Much like The Weeknd, Prince and Miguel, Tamaraebi oozes class and sophistication,
marking him one to watch and a star-in-the-making.”
RECORD OF THE DAY
‘TELEPHONE’ & ‘BROWN ANGEL’ ARE TAKEN FROM THE FORTHCOMING EP ‘SPECTRUM’,
AVAILABLE JUNE 2 VIA BELIEVE
28.04.2021: ‘Telephone’ is the spellbinding new single from Tamaraebi, available today via Believe. ‘Telephone’ follows recent single 'Brown Angel’, which received tastemaker support from The Times, Notion, Clash, the Line of Best Fit, Trench and many more, plus radio support at Radio 1 (Gemma Bradley), BBC London, BBC Wales, BBC Leeds, Jazz FM and Amazing Radio. On release, the track immediately featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday and has since picked up further editorial support at Spotify (Just Dropped), Apple Music (Afro Soul, Alté Cruise) and Amazon Music (Fresh R&B, Brand New Music). Both tracks are lifted from the Nigerian-born, London-based musician’s upcoming ‘Spectrum’ EP, out June 2.
Revealing Tamaraebi’s voice as a soulful yet modern instrument with an effortless, knockout falsetto, ‘Spectrum’ is a set of six classy and sensual songs that evoke Prince, Miguel, The Weeknd and, in the case of ‘Telephone’, Empire Of The Sun circa ‘Walking On A Dream’. A team of sympático producers/writers helped Tamaraebi realise his ideas in the studio: FloTheProducer, All About She and Eddie Serafica.
Comments Tamaraebi of the new single, “Telephone is a psychedelic song that instantly transports you to a 1980’s movie theatre and laments unrequited love and moments lost that you can’t get back. Think Daft punk meets The Smiths.”
The 'Telephone' video was directed by Faith Aylward, who creates a colourful visual that perfectly matches the song. “We wanted to keep in the nostalgic/futuristic, 60s/70s aesthetic from the Brown Angel video, and the models were my mates so it was really comfortable to shoot,” says Tamaraebi.
“One of the reasons the EP is called Spectrum is ’cos of the range of genres on the project and the way these different influences fluidly move and mix with each other,” he explains. “I also feel like I’ve got multiple personalities when it comes to making music (and also in real life!) so the video was almost a way to introduce them. We got normal Tam with my twists in the first scene, Tam with my fro out enjoying a performance with the hanging telephones and then androgynous Tam with the eye make-up/hair up, Pop Art look with the telephones. The subliminal messaging of the visual is for people to feel free to be all versions of themselves.”
Daniel Tamaraebi Itombra was born in Lagos to parents who worked for the UN. The family moved around a lot, first to Calabar in southern Nigeria, then to Nairobi, Sudan, Tanzania and – when he was 16 – Leeds. It was here that Tamaraebi, whose childhood listening had been limited to gospel and (his father’s passion) country, first heard hip hop and “properly fell in love with music”.
While studying law at Leeds University he started performing every weekend at a local club’s open-mic nights. That was soon stepped up to a regular Saturday session with a soul-funk band, followed by a short stint as a hired-in member of a trio, which meant travelling from Leeds to London to record old-school, soul-pop songs.
After graduating and completing his Legal Practice Course, Tamaraebi secured a coveted two-year traineeship in London. He moved to the capital - and quit the job after two weeks. Law wasn’t for him, Tam realised. Music was. It was then that he began “trying to figure out how to be an artist”, determined to write and record his own material.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for someone who started singing at the age of two and hasn’t really stopped since, Tamaraebi is still hooked on that feeling. “When I sing I don’t feel shy, I enjoy it,” he declares, “because that’s when I feel the most connected to everybody. They’re just in the moment and we share this… thing. It’s like a big group hug and I like that. I definitely feel like I was born to sing.”
Tamaraebi ‘Spectrum’ EP:
1. Brown Angel
2. Waistline
3. Square One
4. Telephone
5. Just Cry
6. Serious
Available June 2 via Believe
Follow Tamaraebi on:
Further information chris@swellpublicity.com (print) or lorraine@longevitypr.com (online)