You meet some weird, wonderful and talented people amongst the smoke, woodland and bliss inside arenas at festivals. Last summer as I emerged through those smoke filled woods towards the Forbidden Cabin at Lost Village, Park Hye Jin was blasting out Renegade Master. I don’t remember specifics from that set, It was all a beautiful blur, but what I do remember is getting the name of a young man called George Townsend, who makes music under the alias: C O N T X T. I’ve kept in touch with George ever since and have become a huge fan of the music he has self-released.
Blurring the lines between instrumental, rave and ambient music, I spoke to George about the importance of context in music, the Isle of Wight where he is from, the little town of Falmouth and the value of planning ahead for self releasing musicians.
So I know you were recently coming towards the end of your time in Falmouth, where are you at the moment?
C: So I am back at home on the Isle of Wight, I came back here as a go between finishing University and starting a new job in Dublin. Unfortunately borders were shut down about a week before I was supposed to go there so I’m stuck here for now. It’s not ideal but there are definitely worse places to be right now.
How old are you? Have you been making music for a while?
C: 22 years young! I have been making music seriously for the past 3 years at uni which was integral to the development of my sound and me as an artist. Prior to that I went to music college for two years, but was into bands then and played bass guitar in a 4 piece that wanted to be Tame Impala. I have had a musical background since leaving high school when I realised I wasn’t interested in pursuing anything else.
I feel like in the selection of your tracks I have heard there is a beautiful almost divide between ambient instrumental parts and heavier more rave focused elements. Do you notice that at all?
C: Yeah I’ve always liked that divide because it allows me to showcase two different styles, it’s fun to make music with the intention of it making people dance. It is also great to make sort of more inward focused music, more reflective I guess. I love slower ambient music as well as the more uptempo stuff, I did consider making multiple aliases but I talked it over with some friends and decided against that.
George’s last EP New Dawn beautifully showcasing this concept. In No Water the harmonious strings combined with some broken and bold drums and a distant, dramatic vocal combine perfectly.
Have you made anything super super weird?
C: I don’t actually think I have listened to enough really obscure music to quite have an ear for making it, when I have had a go I just feel like I am fucking about most of the time. Don’t get me wrong it’s fun but doesn’t quite hit the same for me. “Valley of Perception” from the “Reflections” Ep (Exclusive to Bandcamp) is probably my weirdest track i’ve made, it features samples of me and my housemates drop kicking plastic cups around the kitchen, smashing empty rum bottles in the garden and just general chatter from when we were tripping off mushrooms.
Are there any artists who you think have really inspired you? Both in the desire to make music and the sound you have then created and sculpted?
C: Bonobo! His music instantly resonated with me and he was definitely my main inspiration when I started making electronic music and also the artist who helped me make the transition from band focused music to electronic & dance. That weird kind of fusion, a blend of instrumental band type music with an electronic focus. It really intrigued me. As my listening has developed artists like Aphex Twin, Four Tet, Jamie xx, Mount Kimbie, Burial, that kind of left field spectrum of electronic music have been my main inspiration in terms of sound and sonic qualities.
Are there any hip-hop or maybe even pop influences in your music?
C: Yeah when I was younger a lot of my friends were really into UK hip-hop so I acquired a taste for it through them (Thanks guys!) I’m not sure it has directly influenced my music but i’ve certainly adopted some qualities from hip-hop production wise.
Do you have any aspirations music wise, any clear goals? Or are you just taking everything as it comes?
C: When I am in a better financial position I would love my own record label, I have been planning it for about a year now. That is always something that is always on my mind and is an idea that is continuously evolving. Hopefully the final idea will be so developed and thought through that I will know exactly what I want it to be about. I just want to play as much as I can and write as much music as I can like I have been.
Yeah so I know you have played a few gigs live in Falmouth, do you prefer to play your stuff live or to DJ?
C: I think it comes down to lack of experience when it comes to DJing its new territory for me that i’ve delved into recently. I really love the live element of electronic music, you can chop and change on the fly, if you don’t like the way the set is going you can so easily skip past or repeat different parts of your tracks. Playing live to me is like you are DJing but you have control over every single individual sound as opposed to just two audio files, you can do a lot more with it I think but again it’s just preference. I will expand my live set up soon with some more instruments and would love to get my hands on a modular but got to wait for some more money first. For now Ableton Push does me really well.
It is an expensive passion making music. How many times have you played live as C O N T X T?
C: Roughly ten gigs i’d say, my most recent was supporting Iglooghost & BABii at Falmouth rugby club for my friends label Eel. And that was fucking phenomenal oh my god, such an amazing gig. It doesn’t have to be an expensive passion. I guess it just depends on how much you’re willing to invest in yourself, releasing music independently is expensive when you consider mixing, mastering and distribution but again it doesn’t have to be it just depends on what you want.
Do you remember your first show as C O N T X T? Has the live experience changed?
C: 100%, you shouldn’t really need external validation to know you are doing the right thing musically but it definitely helps with your confidence. That first one was a confidence boost, all of my friends were there and it was at a tiny pub called the Killigrew Inn in Falmouth. Living in Falmouth was almost like having stabilisers; it was such a bubble. You could play every week or every other week like lots of us did. I could make something on the day, play it later that night and get instant feedback as to whether it goes up or whether it goes down which is great. It’s like when I get to hopefully play at larger more established venues I already know what tunes work and what tunes don’t. I always try to either play something new or play my tracks in a different order when playing live to keep in fresh. I also want to achieve the adaptability that Bonobo has where you have enough material to play a more chilled set, a dance focused set or a combination of the two depending on the gig.
I have heard that Falmouth is a really amazingly creative place to go to University. It may not get the headlines like Bristol or Manchester music wise but it seems to have a great creative scene.
C: It is an incredible little bubble. The sense of community is phenomenal and it took me a while to find the right people but I now know that each and everyone i’ve met through live music in Falmouth is a friend for life.
Was music the reason you went to Falmouth?
C: Completely. I went to study BA Music. Music was definitely the main draw.
Why the name C O N T X T?
C: It was doing my fucking head in for ages trying to come up with a name. Trying to find that balance of sounding good but not pretentious. When I first started making music I was very inspired by my surroundings and still am might I add, Cornwall is a very beautiful place. I was always travelling around taking in the scenery, with my laptop and Zoom recorder. Trying to take what I can see and feel around me and get it into my music. I think my music reflects where I am physically and how I am feeling.
I just wanted to ask about the artwork you’ve used for your tracks so far? Is that your own artwork or a friend or?
C: One of my best friends and my old housemates, her name is Molly Bruce-Jones she does all my artwork and she’s amazing. She creates all kinds of artwork and I have just chosen the ones I think most suit my music.
There are some elements of drum and bass, jungle as well in your music. I wondered where those influences come from?
C: Yeah so Isle of Wight Bestival & Festival was next to where I grew up so I have been going there from a young age, me and my friends went to Innovation in the dam as well when we were younger. There aren’t any specific artists drum and bass wise who have influenced me. I have never tried to make drum and bass from the perspective of making typical drum and bass if you get what I mean. I have just set my bpm and made some music and some parts have ended up sounding like drum and bass.
Your music is on Spotify, as someone relatively new to the scene and up and coming how have you found that process of getting your music on Spotify. Has it been tricky, expensive, valuable?
C: Yeah my track “Pathfinder” from the “New Dawn” Ep got on the Altar playlist!
Oh amazing that is a really cool playlist, do you know who curated it when your track was featured?
C: I thought it was Four Tet, but in hindsight I don’t think it was him. I went a bit crazy thinking Four Tet might have listened to my track and I had to find out if it was him or not. I messaged some Spotify Help twitter account and they just said it was one of their playlist curators unfortunately.
The only tricky side of Spotify is the financial challenge, as an independent artist it’s quite expensive to fund your own distribution, mixing and mastering costs but at the end of the day I am investing in myself and I am happy to do that for now. I use Distrokid as a publishing service and they are great, forty pounds for the year and I can put out as much music as I like.
Just one last question, as an artist you seem pretty confident about getting your music out to the world quite regularly and giving your music a chance to be heard. Have you ever struggled to get your music online in terms of facing anxiety about people hearing it or have you always had the confidence to just get it out there?
C: Well I have formed a very set strategy. So I always work half a year or more ahead of myself. So this year I have every tune I plan to release already made and ready to go. I stack my tunes. As soon as I make a tune that is demo ready I whack it into an iTunes playlist, and I try to semi organise them into stuff that works together and could be released together. I think it’s consistency, you don’t want to upload so much stuff that you’re spamming people but also you want to gather some momentum so that people pick up your stuff and are constantly listening. I think you have to be quite impulsive when making and releasing music, do I like it do I not? Normally your first idea Is your best, go with your gut!
This has been great, I am such a huge fan of your music. Half Past Zen being my favourite of yours. Big things coming in the future I am sure. Any final thoughts?
C: It’s so nice to speak to and see you again, I’m dreaming of the day we will be reunited in a hazy woodland! My latest E.P. Relics has just been released alongside a digital viewing experience made by my good pal Lucas Andrzej Ritchie, you can walk around a virtual space and explore the content he’s made whilst checking out the new tracks! As far as future releases go i’ve got a couple more E.P.s and an album scheduled to release this year but i’m keeping quiet about those for a minute 😉 !
Check out the incredible viewing experience for C O N T X T’s new E.P, Relics here
And give George a follow on his various socials:
Interview By: Angus Whitfield