For Noya Rao, music is about movement, energy, and momentum. An immensely talented band that brings focus to its work, and delivers a blend of jazz, electronic, and soul in its sound. Just listen to “I Feel,” off the band’s debut album, Icaros, and you’ll find yourself immediately captivated. The Leeds-based electronic-soul quartet is composed of vocalist Olivia Bhattacharjee, bassist Jim Wiltshire, drummer Matt Davies, and keyboardist/producer Tom Henry, and through its evolution, the group has progressed from a solo production project, into an instrumental trio, and now in its four-piece configuration. In Noya Rao’s sound, you will hear a suite of electronic soundscapes, strong production, vocals that inject a chilling choral effect, and its stunning.
Several years ago, Noya Rao was signed to Manchester-based Gondwana Records shortly after its owner, trumpeter and composer Matthew Halsall, saw the band perform live; a turning point for the band. In 2017, Noya Rao released Icaros, and will release its newest EP titled Owls on April 26th.
Recently, Noya Rao sat down with Glide Magazine to discuss the shaping of its career, its writing and production process, its magical journey to Japan, and its latest release.
In your own words, can you talk about how Noya Rao formed, and how it evolved into its current configuration?
Tom: We started out as a trio, but it was almost entirely different back then. Noya Rao has definitely been four-pieces for a while now. Originally, it was just me, Jim, and Matt, writing and playing, and then we met Liv, and that was it.
Olivia: I think from my understanding, when I joined you were kind of looking for a vocalist. I think you had given some tunes to a couple of singers and were just interested in what people could do with them, and how they could write to them. Then you guys liked what I did with something, and kind of from that day, I got more involved.
T: I think it was “Moments,” one of the tracks off of Icaros, and what you sent me that day is what we ended up using to do the vocals for the final arrangement.
Jim: Icaros is an interesting album because there is a bit of straddling going on, in the fact that some of those tunes were written before Liv. So, they were kind of instrumental, with the top line vocal added afterwards. But then some of the songs were written together, instrumentals with vocals. Some of the songs were started with Tom, some started with the three of us jamming, and then Liv went into the newer realm where it’s a bit fuller. The new material is more like that now.
O: It kind of documents a known transition for the band, I think.
T: Yeah, Noya Rao almost started out as a production, beat making thing, and then I was thinking I’d like to do a trio and play some of the ideas live. Then, it became more of a band. At first, in my head I thought Noya Rao would be my producer name, but then it turned into a trio, and then we needed vocals because the music didn’t sound finished. That’s really the direction that we’ve taken it. Obviously, when the vocals came in, we started approaching it more as songwriting, as opposed to just making beats.
O: We weren’t even really gigging all that much. We kind of have never been a massive gigging band.
T: I guess we haven’t had long stints of gigs, yet.
I had read about the Subdub sessions in Leeds being a point of influence for the band. Can you talk about the impact it has had on your music?
T: Subdub is literally like a sound system club type of a thing, kind of like a rave. It’s more like a dance sound system establishment. I think the reference to that is more of the heavy sub-bass that kind of influenced particularly, Jim and I, when we first went there; when we first arrived in Leeds.
J: Subdub was very influential. Obviously, it has a DIY sound system part of it, which influenced me a lot at university. But ages, and ages ago, it was involved in the dubstep movement. They had a few different rooms, but it was just ridiculous. There was chest-caving bass, and then they’d feature a reggae band. We were just obsessed. Before Noya Rao, the music was a bit more dance-focused in stylization. The idea of having a live band that was really heavy, that had synth samples but not really backing tracks. Noya Rao wasn’t really as heavy. It’s a bit more of a listening band. Subdub was like a bit sweaty rave, with something like 1,200 people, in the West Indian part of Leeds called Chapeltown. It’s an iconic night. It’s a nationally recognized night. A lot of the old school dub guys go there, it’s victorious.
How is the music scene in Leeds right now? What’s the level of activity with emerging artists?
O: I think it’s thriving actually.
T: In contrast to London, it’s cheap to live in Leeds. So, people can afford to be creative, have time to work on projects, and spend time rehearsing. All of the stuff that people living in London don’t have the time to do, or they live too far away to do it. There’s something about living in a northern city in England, that affords you to have that time and space to be creative, and that creates more of a scene, I think.
O: I’ve definitely recognized, recently, a tendency for bands to progress to a certain point, and then move to London to progress further, because there are generally more venues and more things going on down there. Though, I do recognize that more people are staying in Leeds, and similarly in Bristol or Manchester, which kind of has to happen for a music scene to grow and become embedded in the culture there. It’s great to see bands being born from cities, but if they just move to London, they very quickly become a London band.
T: There is still a lot of gigs in Leeds, if you check out what’s happening on a weekly basis, there’s tons of things going on. The Brudenell Social Club is quite a famous place, and they have gigs almost every night, and they’ve expanded to now having extra rooms. It’s basically an old pub sort of social club, and they’ve got two decent sized stages with good sound systems. It’s just a great little place. It’s not in the center of the city; it’s in this suburban student area.
O: They’ve maintained a real mix of demographics. Not just students go there, but also locals, old timers, and just music-lovers in general. It’s a really broad range of people.
J: The Belgrave Music Hall and Headrow House are also worth checking out. They’re quite big, one of them is like 1,200 capacity, they have a lot of indie stuff going through there.
T: I do think as well, that the music scene has a lot to do with the Leeds College of Music being a great place to go. When I studied there, it was seen as one of the better places to study jazz, outside of London. I definitely think it’s a hub for music, for sure. In London, you’ll spend an hour getting from A to B. In Leeds, we’ve got Manchester forty minutes by train. Newcastle is not far away. If you compare London, in the north you should be comparing multiple cities.
How do you approach songwriting, as a group, for Noya Rao?
T: We do all variations of songwriting. Sometimes, individual ideas pop up. Jim might have a bass line, and he’ll pass it on. I might add some drums to it, or Matt will add some drums to it. We do a bit of passing around parts of ideas. Then, also, we get together as a group and write something completely from scratch.
O: However, the new tunes, some of them were born from rehearsal.
T: Yeah, it was literally a jam, I had recorded one song on my phone, and that evolved into one of the new songs.
J: The production process is a creative production process, it’s not just documenting things. It’s quite vibey. But the new material is more direct, more nonchalant. We can jam on it, which is nice. It can be quite spontaneous.
T: With a lot of the new stuff, we’ve actually approached it as recording a live take of the song, rather than the patchwork approach to production that people implement these days, all in separate takes. Whereas, we’ve been approaching it much more like a band in a sense, where we’ll do three or four actual live takes of the song and then pick the best one.
O: It’s different as well because our drummer Matt lives in London. So, when he comes to Leeds, the writing sessions are compressed into three or four days. So, within that, it’s a very intensive time where we’re all together, usually. We’ll be in one house together. It’s kind of nice, although it has its challenges that Matt lives in London. It’s nice to have that dedicated time to create loads of ideas and then work from there.
Liv, can you talk about your approach to writing for Noya Rao?
O: Being in the band is a massive education, because I studied very academic music courses, heavily classical, and I did jazz vocals as my main performance. In terms of my music education, it was kind of twentieth century, minimalism, and earlier classical studies. Learning about the whole synth world was like starting from scratch, and then on top of that writing for that kind of world is another thing.
In jazz, the top line is almost like a focal point, where with electronic music there’s so much going on. There’s a lot of sounds. I think, as a vocalist, you kind of need to slip in, rather than being the focus, while also maintaining the balance. I find writing for Noya Rao challenging. Sometimes it just comes like that, and other times I have to write something, leave it for a while, and then return to it. I definitely think things will come very naturally when we all play together.
I also find it an interesting thing to be writing lyrics for a band, as opposed to my solo stuff, which I find a lot easier to write lyrically because it is me. Whereas, with Noya Rao, I have an awareness that I’m representing three other people, who might not hold the same opinions as me. It’s kind of weird, that idea of writing lyrics. It’s definitely something I think about.
I usually come up with the melody before I have lyrics in mind. With a lot of the new stuff we’ve done, in the beginning of production, I would basically speak gibberish on a whole take to get out whatever was in my mind. Or I would speak words or rhythms that I want to include. Sometimes, the guys are like, “That take is good, that’s the one,” and I’m like, “I’m literally saying nothing!” It’s quite fun to go back to the gibberish and then come up with the lyrics.
How about thematically? Is there a common theme that you’re conscious of while writing?
O: No, I wouldn’t say so. We’ve definitely thought the writing for the new material has been inspired by a period that we associate with going to Japan. That was a massive thing for us, and we were writing around the time leading up to that.
T: Some of the songs sound a bit Japanese.
Yes, I saw that you went to Japan in the fall of 2018 to perform. Can you talk about that experience?
J: It was magical. We took it as a bit of a working holiday. The promoter who hosted us was amazingly hospitable. Unbelievably generous. We were right in Tokyo. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I would. I thought it would be a bit too hectic. The people were amazing, and the food was incredible.
O: We love our food in this band!
J: It was really nice, so much generosity.
T: Just the feel of it all felt really amazing. I felt that it energized the band as well. It sort of motivated us to get things going and felt really encouraging seeing people appreciate us. Realizing that we managed to get our music to another part of the world was such a satisfying feeling. The promoter came with the vinyl and had us sign it and stuff. The whole thing had a great feeling. The label [Gondwana Records] was there as well, with Mammal Hands and Portico Quartet performing. It felt like a lot of team building, having the whole Gondwana team there in Japan. The gig itself was amazing, just a really special experience.
J: The promoter had seen a video us playing a small venue in England for Jazz re:freshed, some fairly lo-fi footage, and got really excited by it. He treated us like royalty [in Japan]. Then, he came to the UK and saw us perform in London at the Roundhouse.
O: I think with Japan, and the links with Gondwana, I feel that it is a big link. Matthew Halsall used to live in Japan for a bit, and generally, I think Mammal Hands has a massive following over there. I think the label has a big following in Japan, so there’s potential for Noya Rao to have enough of a following to do a tour over there. That would be the dream!
T: We’re quite a synth-heavy band, and that seems to be a thing over there. We went to a synth shop in Tokyo what was literally wall to wall synths; new synths, old synths.
J: Yeah, it was called Five G. You just wouldn’t see a place like that in England. It was unbelievable.
O: We could talk about Japan for hours!
Gondwana Records is celebrating its ten-year anniversary this year. Can you talk a bit about the label as a support system to the band, and how they’ve played a role?
O: Gondwana was started by Matt [Halsall] ten years ago. In the last four years it has gathered momentum. Obviously, a massive step for its development was signing GoGo Penguin. But, I feel that we joined at a point where Gondwana was ever expanding, and branching out from the minimalist ambient jazz. We were kind of a gamble I suppose, going into the electronic world. Since then, they’ve signed Portico Quartet, Sunda Arc, and Allysha Joy, who is on the neo-soul side of things.
T: The majority of it is not what you’d call classical jazz. It’s all something different, and its moving more towards the electronic and alternative world. Matt did say that he’s looking to make it something more expansive and eclectic. In terms of our relationship with Gondwana, it’s been really good. They’re supportive of letting us just get on with it. They actually pushed us to write more with Liv and get away from the strict instrumental material. Matt actually helped get the album to where it was. Without him doing that, we would have released it just where it was.
J: The identity is stronger now.
T: He made the point, that there are a lot of producers out there doing instrumental stuff, and that we are a band, so that’s the unique selling point.
J: Matt came to see us live at a little venue in Manchester, and that was a turning point. After the live show is when he said he definitely wanted to sign us.
O: I think our strength is in the fact that we can recreate and create a live show that is heavily electronic and does justice to the music.
J: He’s quite old school, Matt. Some of the ways he wanted to do it we couldn’t necessarily do. He was all about having us being gigging machines, which we couldn’t necessarily do at that time. He’s quite slow and steady, and into building things up. Which is great as artists. He’s in that loyal music-lovers world, and his audience is dedicated. The Gondwana listeners are quite dedicated. Matt is also quite big in South Africa. It reminds me that even though he runs a small indie label, that his international reach is quite large.
O: We’re doing a few more Gondwana 10 events soon, including Brussels and Gateshead. It’s kind of fallen for us at a good time. It’s good to have access to the Gondwana audience. Often, when people are coming to Gondwana shows, they’re not necessarily coming for Noya Rao.
T: It’s quite a rare thing that is packaged like that. I can’t think of many record labels that have label nights or curated events. I feel like it’s a quite unique thing where Gondwana can put on a whole event with all of the bands. Matt is so dedicated and puts on the people he’s just signed who are starting from scratch.
O: I do love that about the record label. It’s really heartfelt, and not dog eat dog. There’s emotion there, and there’s care. He cares for us, he cares for the music that we’re making, and he believes in it. He puts up with our creative process and encourages us to do as much as we can do.
T: He has a lot of faith in us, even when we don’t sometimes. In meetings, he’s helped us see the bigger picture. He’s always very positive, even when we might not be. It’s good, you need that. Matt’s a really great guy.
J: He’s very decent, Mr. Halsall. Some of the people in the music world, you feel a bit uneasy around them, but you don’t get any of that with Matt.
O: I really respect his taste in music. I really like his record collection. I respect him musically, as well as a person.
T: Gondwana is growing, it’s not stagnant. It’s moving forward, and expanding all the time, and it feels good being a part of that.
I’m excited for the release of Owls. Can you talk a bit about the new EP and how it came together?
J: Yeah, some of those tunes are quite big. Some are bit more hard hitting, and some are a bit more mellow with a strong melodic focus. It’s a different flavor, the production style is cool. I’m quite pleased with the new music, it’s been in our heads quite a while. The live effect sort of thing is definitely there more with this. It’s identifiable that these songs came together as a band, more than a production thing, but it has cool production effects on it.
O: I’m really interested to see, for the people who loved Icaros, what they will think of the new songs. It’s not too far away, but it definitely has a thread to it.
T: It’s nice to finally have a bit more of a process, that feels a bit more home. We kind of know how to record a bit better now, having developed some more advanced recording skills. It’s just good because it’s not patchwork. We’re all writing together, it feels cohesive.
J: Maybe the new songs are slightly more minimal, with less going on in terms of confusion of sounds. It’s a bit more direct. On Icaros, with songs like “Azimuth,” Liv was big into the layered, ethereal effect. There’s a bit less of that now, dare I say a bit funkier.
T: I think because we’ve done more live stuff. We have that in our heads when writing or producing. We’re conscious of how we’re going to play it live when writing. It’s actually easier now to do the songs live, because we’re not trying to recreate production. A lot of the production is already prepared for playing live. The live performance feeds into the writing, and vice versa.
You mentioned bonding over food. Are there other things that you bond over as a group, musically or non-musically?
T: Yeah, Jim and I live together, so that’s a bond.
O: We’re really close actually. Food is the main bonding point, perhaps even more than the music.
J: Matt is a little bit of a secret foodie, if you can get him to be patient enough to make something, he’s pretty dangerous in the kitchen.
T: I would say we all appreciate the outdoors, and nature. Jim does a lot of gardening and tree surgery, and Matt used to do that as well. We all like to exercise, as well.
O: I did karate, Jim’s very much into mace training, and Tom’s a climber and into yoga.
T: It’s nice, when we were in Japan, we found that we mostly wanted to do a lot of the same things. Going to similar areas and checking out the same shops. We’re all quite geeky, and we like a lot of peculiar films. That probably summarizes all of our bonding.
On April 26th, Noya Rao will release its new EP titled Owls on Gondwana Records.
Nick Gunther lives and writes in Philadelphia, PA. In addition to his contributions to Glide Magazine, he also publishes a monthly music newsletter at obsession.fm.
