More about: Theodor Black

If you’ve ever listened to the smoked-out, sombre music of Theodor Black, it might surprise you that the Londoner struggles to sit still. "I haven't been diagnosed with ADHD, but I might have ADHD" he theorises. "I can't sit and pay attention to a series." Black’s having a lazy day watching Bojack Horseman, but he keeps restarting the series and is trying to finish Season 3.

Growing up as a hyperactive kid, music became a form of release for Black: "I was the kid who always wanted to be outside doing something – it took quite a lot of effort for me to sit down and focus…when I started writing, it was like, a game changer. I could write down how I was feeling. Things just started to tie together and I was like, this could actually be something that I could do. Like, this is something that I'm good at, and it felt so natural and organic, you know? And it was a beautiful thing".

This resulted in 2018’s Black Boy Blues, a jazz-infused testament to his woes (and favourite colour). His latest EP, GARÇON, is a continuation from this first release – the "butterfly coming out of the cocoon" as Black puts it. ‘STROLLING’, for instance, sees the musician open up about his journey with mental health. "Mental health is still kind of frowned upon - well, not frowned upon, but people think that in order for you to be in a state where you're not as mentally stable, it means you're pretty messed up, and that's not the case." 

COVID has been a double-edged sword for him – on the one hand, Black found himself being more productive, writing some of the EP during lockdown. On the other, he found himself a little too isolated. "Sometimes, you're lonely with your thoughts, and it gives you time to really think about where your head is at. Sometimes there'll be a situation where I'm like, OK, maybe I'm not as OK as I should be. Maybe there's some things that I need to work on, something that needs to change."

Some of the issues he’s been working through involve the spectre of toxic masculinity, which he discusses on his guitar-jam ‘INDIGO’. Raised by his mother and sister, Black describes his upbringing as "a blessing and a curse". 

"I’m still dealing with a lot of issues about the whole toxic masculinity thing because social conditioning and that", he admits. "But it was nice to be raised around women because it gave me a whole different insight on how a man is really supposed to behave – or even just how you're supposed to behave in general…I'm very blessed and very fortunate to have that experience because my outlook is different and not having a father figure around makes me a blank canvas. It's an opportunity to... I guess, reshape, or become a new person. Or change the whole idea of how a man is supposed to behave. And hopefully when I have my own kids one day, I can pass down that knowledge." 

What makes a man, then? "I think honesty", he decides. "Being able to be honest with yourself and people around you is important. It's something I've been trying to learn recently."

GARÇON definitely does not shy away from honesty – especially when it comes to issues of racism and police brutality, which Black tackles on ‘SUB CULTURE’, a song punctuated with raspy snares and what sounds like texting. But to what extent has he encountered racism himself in the industry?

"You know, I guess this is something I've never really spoken about, but when it comes to the whole industry thing – as a Black artist – the music that I make doesn't 'sound' Black, I guess. And that's such a fucked-up concept to me. People expect a certain type of sound from someone because of where they're from or how they look and it's like, no. There's so many Black kids who probably make indie music that nobody ever knows about because nobody ever pays any attention to because they don't fit into the whole aesthetic of what a typical indie artist would look like."

Ultiamtely, Black doesn’t let it hold him back. He’s going to continue to be who he is no matter what, something he wants everyone to take away from GARÇON.

"I want people to approach this project with a very open mind and take away from it what they want, you know. My music is always open to interpretation, you take away from it what you want. But what I'd love people to take away from it the most is self-acceptance and acceptance of others. Once we learn how to do that as a collective, things will get so much better."

GARÇON is out now via Songular Music. 

More about: Theodor Black