Artist Spotlight: Osquello
Shot by @alfwp
Tailing the release of his first offering of 2021 ‘We Up’, we sit down to chat (well, over zoom) with the genre-defiant visionary emerging from north of the river, Osquello. A pseudonym for the London born Fabiano Lewis of Italian and Kittitian descent, Osquello is the blooming singer, song writer and producer weaving effortlessly through a plethora of soundscapes with deep rooted influence within jazz, hip-hop, alt and beyond. The 21 year old has cultivated a bountiful collection over the years that’ll take you on a trip veering through his ample arsenal of: potent lyricism, hypnotic harmonies, gripping spoken word and eclectic production.
Osquello guided me through his musical journey during our conversation, delving into the genesis of transporting his visions through adolescence into existence - as well as more thought provoking concepts such as drawing the line between the identity possessed by his pseudonym and that of his own in the eyes of those around him.
Hey man hope life’s treating you well, can you fill us in on what kind of stuff you’ve been up to at the minute?
Appreciate that man, yeah it’s been alright, just moved into a new place recently and other than that I’ve just been spending bare time with family as they’ve just moved back to Italy - jeeeesas, I’m just looking at my garden right now though and its looking bare messy, me and my mates had a BBQ yesterday so it’s looking a state [laughs].
So other than being busy cooking up a storm in the garden I can imagine you’ve been pretty busy with the music at the minute?
Yeah I’ve been working on a lot of music since moving into the new house, but I feel like I’ve taken this year as a time to learn rather than a year to push if anything - just to sit back and look at things from another perspective. I’m looking to release a new project this coming year that’ll see me take a bit of a different direction, less vocals and more focus on the production - but I’m taking my time with it as I’m still learning as I go.
I’ve heard you’ve been making music since young, am I right saying Osqstock was an ongoing journey through your earlier teens until deciding to release it last year?
Yeah man I started having the vision when I was 14 until I dropped it on my 21st, there’s a post I’m going to bring back this year, it was a picture of the rough draft I made for the Osqstock cover art from 2016 with me being like ‘soon come’ - it just feels crazy now though because I’ve finally dropped it.
Could you take me through the journey and the original vision you held within that project.
So it’s based around the Woodstock festival, it’s just like a rendition of my own world, so every song on that album is like a different ride or attraction that’s a part of this festival world - you have the likes of ‘Roxie’s Final Ride’ which represents the lover’s boat ride and me meeting this girl in the festival, then you’ve got ‘Tarohut’ which is me going to a fortune teller and getting a tarot reading. Every song is just a part of the whole story I’ve envisioned since young.
Can imagine as you grew musically so did your outlook on the project?
I’d say it just got stronger and more balanced. When I was like 14/15 a lot of the music I was making was just hella sad and depressing - just a bit childish I guess. But then at the same time Osqstock couldn’t be released at the age of 30 - well it could, but I don’t think it would have been as effective because it still needs that element of nostalgia. I think my vision just matured essentially, rather than getting excited with it I kind of just made it relevant to my life - I wouldn’t say Osqstock became like a lifestyle, but more of a message to go by. ‘Good morning Simulation’ was similar, it was more than just a project but something I could use after to develop my own and other people’s lives. I feel like Osqstock was the perfect balance of where I was at and what inspired me over those past 6 years - just balancing the past with the present.
How did you finally come to the realisation of when to stop working on it and put it out?
Every year when I was making music from 14 up till the release I would always make a little playlist, ‘The Osqstock Playlist’, of what it could be with the draft of tracks I had at the time and it never worked - so the year that I released it, all the songs that came together on that playlist just made sense, it all came together naturally.
Sometimes I think maybe I dropped it too soon, like I could have waited even longer but at the same time it just felt ready, it felt like all the songs were coming together, I wasn’t forcing anything. Like when I made Tarohut I never would have thought it’d make it to the album, I didn’t think most of them could have been on Osqstock. but when I looked at them all in the playlist it all made sense in terms of the story - a story was being written without me even knowing. I’m not really someone to dive into something I have an expectation of, everything kind of has to catch me off guard in order for it to feel natural, you know
Could you take me through the production of Osqstock?
So I had a lot of help compositionally, I can play keys but not amazingly, so a lot of the time the chord progressions I came up with weren't all that [laughs] - but I did compose and produce Tarohut, Lovers Fool, Enter Osqstock and Piece of Shit.
For songs like Alive Eye and Roxie’s Final Ride though, I basically got mad instrumentalists in who could play guitars and pianos to run bare random ideas and would just be like ‘wait that one thing you just did could be used for this’ or ‘that little melody or that little riff could be used for that’. I feel like that experience has helped me learn to write my own chord progressions by ear, but writing over your own production takes so much patience and belief.
You’ve shelled some pretty impressive shows throughout your time in the scene, that set at Jazz Café looked live - any stand out gigs you’ve performed at so far?
Jazz Café was 100% the best one yet man, 100%. It was a real rare occurrence too - I just happened to holla the venue like ‘this is my music, I absolutely love your venue and would love to play, can we do it’ - I ended up having my boy Nega Brandon open up for me too, you guys should defo chat to him at some point, he’s got some insane stuff on the way - but yeah that show was beautiful man. It took place in November like two days before the nationwide lockdown too, I think it was one of the last live shows in the whole city, so that was kinda crazy. It was kind of ironic though because last year when it seemed like it was impossible I ended up booking some of the best shows of my life, Jazz Café being one of them.
But in terms of shows that were good when the world was actually open… I’d say LA, when I performed there that was nuts. I ended up going on one of those route 66 holidays with my family, so we were just on the road. But this guy I knew from Twitter had always wanted me to come through and perform sometime in LA at this venue and in the time he asked me I just so happened to be in town. It was set in some vintage shop that turned into a venue in the evening - it wasn’t like some boujee Hollywood space, it was set on the edge of LA so it had a real sense of community, some pretty wholesome vibes.
On the topic of performing, what’s this I’ve heard about you performing on a roof in the streets of London?
[Laughs] Yeah so my boy was leaving to go Poland for a few weeks and he ended up giving us the keys to his house while away and in that time I ended up setting up a show on his roof at the age of like 15, it was fucking nuts bro. Just hella teens fucked off their face, even me man - it was exactly the vibe I was on about earlier that’s just too wild for a gig - it was crazy. Someone even ended up falling off the roof and fucking themselves up, it was a small roof but still. Funniest part is we didn’t even end up on my friends roof, apparently we ended up on some random unit and someone came out and was like ‘the fuck is going on here’. Police came and everything, just walked by and did nothing - was a confusing night [laughs].
What can the people reading this expect to experience at an Osquello show?
Just be ready to feel hella emotional man. Bare girls that came to my last show were in the toilets crying and shit, I think one of the songs I did had a bit of spoken word in it so I think everyone got a little emotional. It is a rollercoaster of emotions though man, a lot of stuff going around. I always say when I organise gigs ‘ I don’t want people to look at me on stage as a performer, but that I’m sharing something with them’, it’s just sharing love you know - which is why I kind of like the seated side of gigs because people can connect with you even more.
Any plans for the summer, I’m sure the people would love to know about any gigs or festivals.
Sadly there’s been no gigs and that set up just yet man, but there’s been a couple of things I’m trying to organise like the five year anniversary for the first Osqstock show. In 2016 I did my first show and had got hella artists like: Nine8, Jeshi, MC Pinty and all that to perform - now five years later we’re trying to recreate something like that to celebrate, so that should be cool.
I call it a festival but the thing is it’ll only be like a one day thing, but the reason why I view it as that and not a gig is because they’ll be lots of stuff going on like: weird little indie jazz bands at like 5, then at 8 some hardcore rappers and then at 9 someone who just wants to play guitar - so just a variety of musical backgrounds all connected within one space.
Looking through your discography you don’t seem to shy away from getting features on your projects, would you say working with so many talents over the years has helped you shape your sound?
I wouldn’t say they’ve helped me form my sound completely, but when I look towards the people I’ve worked with like Poppy Billingham and Carla, then for sure. Getting people like themselves in the studio encourage me to sing more and restructure my songs. There’s times I can find myself still referencing those kind of people till this day in terms of where I can hear the song going - singers inspire me, especially female singers.
On the topic of features, could you talk me through that legendary Goldie link up?
So his ex-manager actually used to mentor me and it was just through that I kind of got connected with him, but we talked a lot even before I had signed any deal with him - the guy’s a mad man [laughs]. Funnily enough though I had actually recorded most of that EP with him before I recorded Osqstock, I had recorded most of it in like the summer of 2019, if not a bit before.
Anyone you got your eyes on at the minute that you’d love to get a feature from
In terms of features… she’s the homie but we need Bel Cobain on some music for sure man, I’ve been needing her on something for a minute, she’s amazing. Other than her, my boy introduced me to this producer that lives in Glasgow called Kaidi Tatham, he can make broken-beat, jazz, hip-hop, R&B all on one little laptop - the guy’s insane. Maybe even Nightmares on Wax, we’ve been talking about getting in the studio for a while now.
Your sound is real genre defying with those jazzy tendencies in tracks such as ‘Tired Creature’ and more alternative soundscapes within ‘Piece of Shit’ - but I was just wondering whether there were any fields you’ve yet to incorporate into your sound that you’d love to dive into.
I definitely need to try and hack these broken-beat, jazz tracks I’ve been working on and singing on more up tempo stuff too - just generally making more up tempo music I guess. We’ve been meaning to send this new EP out to people but I’ve been so consistent on the fact of not to do it until I’ve found this perfect up-beat track for summer and I still haven’t yet. So for me, I could definitely do with getting into more music that can make people get up and dance whether that’s funk, afro, broken-beat, garage - I just want to step into a soundscape with a lot more energy.
You seem to come across as an open minded guy when I look at you through your music, you never seem to not be stepping out of your comfort zone. What would you say that derives from, nurture or nature.
It could be a mixture, but I think it is mostly me as a person. Even though I can react weird with change, I’m aware of when I need it and I’m aware of when I’m settling in too much - I’ve always focused on being aware of things like that.
With the vast soundscape you posses I can imagine you grew up on a plethora of genres, who did you grow up listening to as a younger
I always say this and keep telling myself to stop saying it in interviews but it’s just true [laughs] - the first album I got given was a Michael Jackson album, that was the first time I was ever like ‘woah’ this music is deep, it gave me goosebumps and everything - when you have that first encounter with music, it’s such an overwhelming experience.
Then from the age of like 7-13 my dad was just getting out of the hip-hop industry, he was a hip-hop and house DJ, so I was always hearing those sounds around the yard. But then I just got deeper and deeper into it, I had always asked ‘why, why, why’ and wanted to know the roots to it - ‘why did that person make that music, how did that come about?’ So then it went all the way from MJ, to Quincy Jones, to Ella Fitzgeralds, to Nina Simone and then it got to the point where I found a new love for music again within Jazz. Hip-Hop was a thing and it inspired me to write music for sure, but Jazz was just so complex and I knew it was something that was going to take time to learn.
Who are some of your heavy influences nowadays, any curve balls the people may not have expected you do be listening to?
The two people I’m definitely inspired by right now are probably Terrance Martin - well three people - Terrance Martin, Robert Glasper and Sun Ra. Oh and always Nina Simone, she’s forever been levels ahead of man.
But then musicians I wouldn’t be expected to listen to… I don’t know man that’s a good one [laughs]. You know what I actually really like The Temper Trap, they’re like a proper cliché indie band - some real cliché, romantic, summer time vibes. My own brother was even surprised by that one, I did like a Fred Perry playlist and put one of their tracks on there and he was like ‘The Temper Trap’s, really???’ [laughs].
So how did the name come around?
It’s a bit of weird story but I’ll just say it - you ever seen Napoleon Dynamite?
Yeah of course man, I actually dressed up as him for Halloween last year
Swear, that’s too hard [laughs]. So before I even knew about its existence, I saw this photo of Pedro, just some bait face of the guy looking bare vacant and I didn’t know who he was at the time, so I just looked at this picture and was like ‘something is resonating with this man’s vacant look on his face and I don’t know why’. I must have had the same vacant look on my face as he did, so I was just bare staring into this guy’s soul and then I just looked up and said ‘Osquello’ - it’s like I had just named him on the spot and that’s it really [laughs].
That’s got to be the oddest formation of a name I’ve ever come across, but I rate it [laughs
It’s cracked out innit [laughs]. I actually ended up watching the film at the cinema during one of Tyler the Creator’s pop-up shows, he was just chilling in the back of the cinema, was a funny one.
So, how would you describe Osquello - is he just an extended version of yourself or an outlet for you to tap into another side of your emotions?
That’s a great question bro… I don’t even know anymore [laughs]. I feel like unfortunately Osquello and Fabiano are different people, but only from the perceptions that people have created upon them. If you look at it this way, if my only only social media profile is Osquello (just music, nothing else) and that’s all you see, then all you’re going to know is that person - ‘Osquello the music head’ not ‘Fabiano the human being’. So I feel like it is different, but obviously everything Osquello would write and create is me, it’s everything I agree with - but when you create this exterior platform for this person who doesn’t have my name I guess it is creating a new person. In the world of my friends and family I exist as Fabiano but then to these other people who still share some sort of connection with me, they have a whole other character that they see, which is crazy! It’s definitely a separate entity to the world, but to me it’s just a stage name.
You wouldn’t say Osquello ever takes over Fabiano when you’re just living life then?
Maybe it does… my family have told me it has before [laughs]. Sometimes I’ll be solely focused on the music if I’ve got a campaign in the works and just get completely wrapped up in the world of music, but I don’t mean to.
So, when you put Osquello aside and you’re not curating bangers, what’s a typical day looking like?
I’m a pretty simple guy to be honest bro, I’ll just be drawing a lot, reading, chilling with my dogs when I can, I love travelling and going away a lot too. Like I said earlier, just bare into cooking for my people as well, I enjoy being a nice host - making food for dem, making drinks for dem, all of that. If I’m not making the music, then I am probably doing something creative.
What kind of stuff are you usually cooking up for your peoples, what’s your go to dish?
It’s gotta be either Caribbean or Italian food man. Yesterday for the BBQ we made some salt fish fritters, rice and peas, dumplings, jerk chicken and had a couple chilli lamb tings going as well, it was real nice. We didn’t have it yesterday, but I love making a bit of ackee and salt fish too.
Final question, with this year flying by what can the people expect from Osquello in these final quarters of 2021?
There’ll be a new video dropping in the next few days that’ll be out by the time this is, so go check that! The Osqstock five year anniversary show that’s definitely happening around late June or beginning of July, so keep a look out for that. Other than those two, just a new EP on the way I guess but like I said we taking our time so get ready to listen to bare songs!