Kae Tempest Breaks Down New Album The Line Is a Curve Track By Track: Exclusive
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The post Kae Tempest Breaks Down New Album The Line Is a Curve Track By Track: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.
Our Track by Track feature gives artists the opportunity to share the inspiration and stories behind each song on their latest release. Today, Kae Tempest takes us behind the inspiration for their new album, The Line is a Curve.
British multi-hyphenate artist Kae Tempest is back with their fourth album, The Line Is a Curve. Simultaneously sensitive and grounded, the album is as sonically dazzling as it is vulnerable.
Their first release since 2019’s Rick Rubin-produced The Book of Traps and Lessons (and their first since coming out as non-binary), The Line Is a Curve shows Tempest overcoming overwhelming anxiety and self-doubt, their undeniably unique creative voice shining through. “For the last couple of records,” Tempest tells Consequence, “I wanted to disappear completely from the album covers, the videos, the front-facing aspects of this industry. A lot of that was about my shame… but this time around, I want people to feel welcomed into this record by me.”
Tempest feels more comfortable in their own skin now, and it’s reflected in the material. “I feel more grounded in what I’m trying to do, who I am as an artist and as a person, and what I have to offer,” they explain. “I feel less shame in my body because I am not hiding from the world anymore.”
To accompany the release of The Line Is a Curve, Tempest has broken down the album in our latest Track by Track interview. Give it a spin, and get the details behind each of the album’s twelve tracks below.
Tempest will support the new LP on a UK and EU tour this summer; snag tickets here.
“Priority Boredom”:
This was the first song we wrote, and as the rest of the album came together, I knew it should be the opener. We started with the Moog one. I love how it’s minimal and sparse but so layered and rich at the same time. The lyric is true to the first draft version that I wrote in that session.
Initially we had this massive drum roll pattern that we thought was cool, but when we sent the album to Rick Rubin, his only suggestions were to call Kevin Abstract for the feature on “More Pressure,” and that we should sort out the drums on this one, so we ditched them and [producer] Dan [Carey] wrote the beat that drops half-way through the track, which has become one of my favorite moments on the record.
“I Saw Light”:
I met Grian [Chatten] years ago through Dan. I love Grian’s presence on stage, his lyricism. For me, he is a poet. A great one. I’ve wanted to work with him for many years but the times never been right, but with this song, it just felt like it could be interesting. We sent him the song, and he came down to the studio one evening. I didn’t know what he was going to do, I just wanted him to contribute in whatever way he felt he wanted to. I was mesmerized listening to him put this verse down.
“Nothing to Prove”:
I love this song. It’s the kind of beat Dan writes that immediately makes me want to flow. The two verses are phonetically and syllabically matched and play off each other. It’s an example of the form being as relevant to the lyric as the words themselves. Something I learned through writing poems for the page. A song about having nothing to prove, proves it in the construction of the verses. Also, it just goes hard.
“No Prizes”:
Lianne [La Havas] came down to the studio and started playing around with the hook. I had different verses for the song at the time, but I wasn’t really happy with them. She found the melody, and we fit the words to it. And as she began to sing this chorus round and round, I started to think in pictures. I realized the song should be three verse portraits, framed by Lianne’s hook.
“Salt Coast”:
This is a love letter to the UK, to the land, the people, the soil, the concrete. Whenever I’m done in, I try and head to the edge. I like to stand on the beach and look back at the cliffs. It reminds me that this place is made of chalk and clay and rock, and that the cities we live in are not as permanent as they feel. This song is a like a hymn to home, and to that feeling. And to the people in my life who have guided me and looked out for me, who make this place the place I come from.
“These Are the Days”:
We wrote this in lockdown. It was the first time we had been able to get together in ages. It was hot outside and the city was still and I was so happy to be back in the studio with Dan at last. It felt amazing to write this poem, it came out in such a blast. Writing this song and “Salt Coast,” I realized we had something special with this album, that what we were working on was really taking shape. I knew I wanted big, warm drums and guitars. I could feel this section of the album taking shape.
“Smoking”:
The vocal is a real recording that I sent to Dan. If I hadn’t sent that voice note, but had come back from tour with this lyric in my notebook, I don’t think it would have made it through the demo process to the album. For me, it’s not the song itself but the moment of connection, the reaching towards Dan that happened in that moment that is special. Confucius MC is someone I started rapping with at 16. I’ve studied his rhyme style since we were kids, he’s a foundational presence in my creativity and one of the best rappers in the UK for me, it was right for him to be on this track. He killed it.
“Water in the Rain”:
This is a crucial moment in the album. For me, this is pure Dan Carey. The layers, the chords, the sensitivity of his writing, the way he responds to my lyrics. Kwake Bass is playing the drum kit on this one. Dan wrote the beat on the MPC, then Kwake came in and played it live. Dan treated those recordings as if the acoustic sounds were samples, with the same attention to detail. I love how that method gives the expansiveness of a live kit but keeps things feeling controlled and precise. In line with the lyric. The sung vocal from assia just soars and pulls out all the nuances of the lyric.
“Move”:
This is an example of Dan and I really enjoying ourselves. We get so excited by these kinds of tough hard beats, when Dan’s on a vibe like this, it makes me drill down into my flow and draw for the tightest bars I can. At this point in the album, we need to shake things. This is a galvanizing moment where I tell myself no matter how hard it might be, it’s not over. I think the whole album is about that feeling. About arriving at that feeling. The will to persevere. The line is a curve. It’s all about continuation.
“More Pressure”:
This song feels like coming up. It’s an endless crescendo. Unresolved harmonies that keep building. I wrote the verse in a slow rush. It’s hard to describe any other way. It’s like everything disappeared, it was just the beat in my ears and the page in front of me, and I don’t know how long it took but at some point I just said to Dan, I think I’ve got it. And that was it.
It’s Orla Carey’s voice that you can hear singing, Dan’s youngest daughter. She put her vocal down before we got in touch with Kevin Abstract. When he recorded his verse and Dan played it to her, she couldn’t believe it, Kevin Abstract is her favorite rapper. Beautiful moment of synchronicity.
“Grace”:
This started life as a voice note Dan sent to me over lockdown. Him picking his guitar. Looking for connection in the same way I was with the verse in “Smoking.” The lyric is like a prayer or something. A request. A promise. Once we finished recording the guitar and we sent it through the effects that you can hear that make it sound like fractals or light on water, I asked Dan if he could pick out the notes for “Priority Boredom.” As soon as he found them and started playing, I knew we had a complete album on our hands. It felt absolutely right.
In my memory, it was one of the last things we did for the album. But my memory is a mess, so that may not be the case. It’s a beautiful song. The only way to end it. But the idea is that despite arriving at this moment of lucidity, of loving, we still have to wake up in the morning and go through it all again. It’s not enough to have an epiphany. You have to live it every day. So, although we arrive at love, we may well loop back to despair, but this is nothing to fear. The process begins again, because the line is a curve.
The Line Is a Curve Artwork:
Kae Tempest Breaks Down New Album The Line Is a Curve Track By Track: Exclusive
Rachael Crouch
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