INTERVIEW: SAFENATH
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| ©℗2020 safenath |
safenath
Nath's House
Interview
By James Berner-Roe
21/03/20
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For all of last year, safenath was adding to his discography with a variety of production styles and flows, but it was clear that his favoured style was a trap-influenced style of rap. With production from himself, Tyegreen and Y2K, Nathan Mortimer cemented himself as an equally important artist as he was exciting. Headline shows at O2 Academy Islington, Bassment and The Hot Box proved that he was able to hold a crowd, and caught the attention of Chelmsford indie-giant and close friend Jordan Cardy, who invited the nineteen year-old rapper to support his RAT BOY tour which was due to start on the release date of this project (were it not for the pandemic). Now, it's clear that 2020 might just be safenath's year. His most recent EP, Nath's House, is a collection of tracks that show off what the rapper is capable of; a body of work to introduce himself to the music world, and solidify his place as Essex's next big thing.
"So for this EP I recorded with three different producers; Tyegreen, Mulade and Tommy2K" Nath tells me over a crackly FaceTime connection on the release day of Nath's House. After calling me back on a stronger phone connection, he breaks down the recording process of the first track, Outside, recorded at Tyegreen's studio-converted loft. "I said to Tye that I wanted to do some dancy-shit, so he pulled up the beat for it and I was just like 'yeah, let's do it'. It's always easy working with him". Halfway through the opener, the track slows down and transitions into a hard hitting hip-hop beat, where Nath's impressive vocal delivery is reminiscent of the end of a Fire in the Booth. "That's why I put it first!" he explains, "People will hear my more popular tracks and make an assumption of me as a musician. . . with this EP, especially, I wanted to show that I'm not just doing trap-rap kinda music. I'm trying to do loads of different sounds".
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| 📸Alysha Patel |
The following track, 65!, is another seriously impressive Tyegreen beat. "I literally recorded that in my bedroom. I just use my mic, my speakers and Logic Pro. All my boys use Logic". I tell Nath that 65! was my favourite as soon as he sent it over to me, and he's not surprised. "Yeah, people fuck with 65!, it's definitely a favourite". Earlier in the day, Tyegreen posted a video of himself playing the piano riff that moves through the track, and it caught Nath off-guard in a more-than-good way. "Bruv! I didn't even know he'd done that. I thought it was a sample or something, but it's actually him. It makes me so much happier about the song now, you know".
Nath tells me that the up-and-coming producer Mulade sent him the beat for Pearl White in August of last year. "I made the track around then, so I showed all my boys and they all thought it was quite vibey". But, despite its positive reception, he didn't want to release it as soon as it was done. "I thought to myself, 'I'm just gonna sit on it, wait for the right time to release it'. I didn't think it was strong enough to release on it's own, as a single, but for a project like this it works well, I think". The song has a HOMESHAKE-like quality to it, something that Nath takes as a compliment. "I love HOMESHAKE man. It's quite a calming track, yeah. I recorded that one in my bedroom too".
Welsh producer Tommy2K is the man behind two tracks on Nath's House, the first being Motorway. "That was weird," Nath tells me, "we recorded that one in his uni accommodation. He does production at my uni, that's how I know him; he's sick at producing". Tommy2K was also behind the EP's closer, Sort. Both Motorway and Sort sound distinctly similar, and different from the other four tracks. "Not in a bad way!" Nath defends, "we used a lot of auto-tune, and it just gave those tracks a whole new feel, vocally. It's not like its me trying really hard to sing, you know? It was more just for the sound of the songs and I think we pulled it off".
The penultimate track, Blink, has a smooth vocal sample that draws influence from more recent hip-hop production. Nath has no idea what the sample actually is, praising Tye's production skills yet again. "He's a wizard with it. When he sent me that beat the file was called something like 'weird interlude type beat'. . . I heard it and it kinda gave me a BROCKHAMPTON vibe, you know". With friend and frequent collaborator REDKLOUD chatting towards the end of the track, it reminded me of a cut from Saturation III, Stains, and Nath agreed. "With that song I wanted to just make it all bars, you know? Showing, yeah, I can try these other styles, but I can still rap".
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| 📸Alysha Patel |
"The whole idea around the project was to put out a body of work that shows off everything I can do, and what I'm doing", Nath tells me, along with the fact that he's still only nineteen. Lyrically, the project has no specific direction; in a way, making one of it's own. "It's just me talking about my day-to-day life, and things that I've gone through, telling stories and that. Outside is literally about wanting to go outside, being trapped inside when you're younger". Lyrically, the second half of the track is about the feeling you get once you're finally outside after a long wait. . . how relevant. "That's me when I'm with all my mates; I like being on my own but sometimes you need that".
After a bit of thought, Nath decides there's a lot more going on in London to get inspired by. "Don't get me wrong, I love Essex!" he makes clear. "Obviously I grew up here and everything, but you can get a bit trapped. Especially musically, I want to have as much shit going on around me to inspire me, which is what London did for me".
Jordan Cardy's influence can be seen throughout Essex, and we both agree that our hometown, Chelmsford, would be way less exciting, culturally, if it wasn't for his work as RAT BOY. "Being from the same city as us, he's showing the youth here that whatever you want to do is possible. He's a massive inspiration to everyone, and he's played a big part in my music career so far", he reveals to me. "I don't know this as a fact but I think it's pretty clear that he's inspired BILK, and a lot of the youth scene in Chelmsford. I feel like he's the stem of all that, you get me? When you look at the musicians that have come from this city, Jordan's like top, top tier".
"I wouldn't be doing this rap shit if it weren't for Jordan", he tells me. In early 2018, Nathan was playing percussion for RAT BOY on his UK tour, and that's where it all started. "One day, on the tour bus, Jordan cooked up a beat and was like 'I want everyone on this bus, Harry, Liam, Noah, everyone. Spit a verse'. He was like 'Nath, spit a verse.' but I'd never done that kind of stuff before. Still, I wrote one, did it, and Jordan thought it was sick. Fast-forward a bit, the tour finished and I had no music to do". His old band, Suspects, had just split up and he was no longer on tour, so creative outlets were low for Nath. "I had to do something. After Jordan's response to my bars, I just thought 'fuck it, I'm just gonna start rapping on my beats'. A year later it all started, and now I'm here".
Nath had been preparing for his since-postponed tour with RAT BOY by visiting his DJ and close friend, Max, in Leicester. "Obviously that's not happening anymore 'cause of all this coronavirus shit, but at the time we were getting so gassed for it". They'd rented a DJ room at Pirate Studios, in Leicester, where they practised the forty-five minute set they had prepared. "All the tracks from the EP were on it, and I knew it was gonna sound crazy. Obviously in a rehearsal studio you can only get so hyped, but I could just tell how it was gonna be on tour." Nath tells me that he knew if he gave the set all his energy, the fans would reciprocate it. "I was gonna open with 65!, and just run on when it drops... it'll be sick when it happens".
Nath's House by safenath is available to stream now.
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