Artist Spotlight: Maths Time Joy & Rich
Collaboration is often heralded as the key to creative eminence, and it’s difficult to disagree. No one is good at everything, are they? One of my favourite collaborations of the year has been the sonic partnership of London based polymath Maths Time Joy and New York artist Rich, who have combined for the sensationally immersive EP ‘Change’.
Having witnessed the EP unfold through a series of subtly fantastic singles, when the full body of work was finally gifted to my humbled ears, I was overawed by the sheer chemistry and musical talent on display. A collection of mesmerising, provoking and at times heartrending songs, it is translucently apparent that MTJ and Rich share the kind of raw and natural connection that cannot be contrived; only discovered, developed and dilated. Both overtly nuanced in their respective fields, the pair refused to allow the Atlantic Ocean to cease their expressionism and chemistry, instead using the solitary nature of pandemic existence to produce this genre-defying, contagious EP.
I caught up with MTJ and Rich to discuss the new EP, their continuously evolving sound, and the origins, and future, of their seamless chemistry.
How has post-pandemic life treated you?
R: It’s been nice - just played my first live show since lockdown a couple weeks back and it felt really good to get back into the swing of it.
Who are you listening to?
R: PinkPantheress and Emanuel
T: Dijon and the new Flying Lotus project
Your style transcends genre to such an extent that its impossible to box in. How do you maintain fluidity in your sound despite this?
R: When I write a song or choose an instrumental to write over I try not to think about it much more than asking myself “do I like this?” I think I just happen to like a lot of different genres/styles.
What is your opinion on the concept of genre? Do you think it is still relevant in today’s musical climate?
R: I think traditional genre descriptions are super antiquated and a relic of the pre-internet music industry. I’m seeing more and more artists take off because of their individuality as opposed to fitting a particular blueprint/lane.
As a pair, you seem to have the perfect combination of production and vocal nuance. What is it about the collaboration that works so well?
R: I’m just a big fan of Maths Time Joy’s music so I trust him to keep the production at a really high level.
How did the link-up first come about?
T: Me and Rich met in a session in LA a couple years ago, I knew his music through third story already, and in the session Rich came in with a demo which turned out to be one of the track on the project we have together
Was your sonic chemistry seamless from the beginning? Was it difficult to maintain due to the pandemic?
It was fairly seamless actually as me and Rich always worked remotely anyway as we live in different countries so the pandemic didn’t really affect our workflow, although we did have some plans to do some live videos together which we had to work around.
Do you plan on future joint work?
T: I hope so, we have a bunch of other demos we have together so I’m sure we’ll organise releasing those and I’m always down to write with Rich.
Who else would you like to collaborate with?
T: My dream would be Bon Iver, Anderson Paak or Chance the Rapper.
Really enjoyed the EP! Really broad and expressive, why did you opt for this sonic approach?
T: It wasn’t necessarily a conscious choice but working with someone like Rich who trusts my production allowed us both to take the songs in different sonic directions. That’s one thing i definitely enjoyed about the creation process of the project was being able to explore all these different sounds but with Rich’s voice tying it all together.
‘Change’ is absolutely stunning. I love the textural approach and the delicacy in the narrative. What is the meaning behind the track?
T: Thank you, I know Rich wrote this one at a certain point in his relationship. But for me when I heard it, it was always a mix between melancholy and hopeful and I wanted to express that in the production as well, taking the song from the original voice note idea at the start to this big climactic ending.
Talk me through the main themes and concepts from the EP?
T: To me the project represents different stages you go through in a relationship, not just with other people but with yourself. Rich’s writing always has a sincerity to it that I admire, and I tried to compliment that through the production.
Why did you choose to keep the project at only 6 tracks?
T: I think both me and Rich felt that some of our favourite projects were short. We had a few other songs in contention but 6 felt like a good length to get the ideas and sounds we wanted across.
How do you plan on enhancing and evolving your sound after this EP?
T: I think we both have a wide range of influences that we take from so Im sure we’ll explore those, Ive been into a lot of guitar based music recently and I’m sure Rich has his own ideas too, but everything is mostly still rooted in soul and gospel.
If you were introducing your music to someone who’d never heard of you before, what track would you put on?
T: For me it would be Change, I think just the way it builds and all the textures, along with how that song came about , that would be the track Id’ play to encompass the general feeling of the project.
What are the plans for the future?
T: I’ve been producing for a bunch of other artists which is what I spend most of my time doing, me and Rich have also spoken about getting together in the same space to create more and maybe do some live performances.