Flexing a knockout sound that’s reminiscent of Ghostpoet and Mike Skinner, Context is continuing to build on the early noise he’s already made with previous singles – ‘Drowning’ and ‘Off With Their Heads’. His latest track ‘1.4 at 12,’ sees him returning louder than ever.
How would you describe your sound?
Melodic grit. Its honest, melodic, insightful, gritty, English observations.
Your sound has also been compared to The Streets. Is that motivating to you in a way?
Sure. It’s great to know that my music speaks to people in a small way like how Mike’s did. Both culturally and commercially he was incredibly successful, and if people compare me to him – that definitely motivates me to try to achieve even a small percentage of what he did.
Who are some of the people that have influenced you?
Anyone who is unashamedly themselves. A few include Drake, Giggs, Mike Skinner. Also, my favourite album of all time is ‘The Infamous’ by Mobb Deep.
Not many artists tend to film music videos, whilst driving a car and performing for the whole duration of the journey. How did you do that with ‘1.4 at 12‘ ?
Yeah, it was hard. For the bonnet shots, we actually hired this giant sucker device, which sticks to the bonnet and then the camera is attached to the top. It was actually pretty scary driving around with that on the front of the car.
What’s the concept behindand the video?
The video needed to tell the story of the track, so that’s exactly what it tries to do. It’s about finding beauty in the mundane.
Is success harder or more demanding than you thought it would be?
It’s weird – success in music isn’t hard because the task in itself is hard. The hard part is motivating yourself through the low points, the knock backs and being so skint.
You recently did a bit of work with Ed Sheeran. How did you wind up working with him?
Well, he appeared in a video of mine – ‘Off With Their Heads’. I spoke to him a few years ago, when he used to be around East Anglia. Then a mate of mine (Journalist Kieran Yates) reintroduced us, and he was really up for being in the video. He’s a sick guy.
What’s your life motto?
Not sure! I’m stupidly competitive so my mates would say it’s probably something like; ‘there’s first place, and then there’s losing.’
When you looked in the mirror first thing this morning, what was the first thing you thought?
You need a haircut mate.
Watch the video for Context’s ‘1.4 at 12’ above. The track is also available to download for free from his SoundCloud page.