It’s 9.30am and I am emerging from my bed bleary eyed after staying out later to see Alfa Mist enrapture a packed Berlin audience at Gretchen. I have pangs of homesickness at his smooth, round London lyricism and my whole body is aching after finishing the final day of rehearsals for a new production at the Gorki only a few hours before.

Tagore rings my doorbell. He stayed up all night to catch his flight from Gatwick and we both drink coffee and decongest the months we haven’t seen each other before I take him to one of my favourite places in berlin- the Turkish food market. A good remedy for exhaustion.

That night my Yes But No colleagues and I are joining Shlomi Shaban in concert as his encore- a comedic and explicit finish to an extremely professional show. Outside the context of the theatre production the composition of his that we are performing, one that outlines without any lack of detail, a consensual sexual intercourse, feels a bit bizarre but I reckon it’s a pretty good introduction for Tagore to what I get up to at work over here in Berlin.

The next four days we don’t seem to sleep much but manage to write and finish some recording of a long thought about collaborative release. We have worked together before over the years, mostly as the backing musicians for Just Jacks albums ‘Ford Lane Versions’ and ‘What We Did Today’ (which Tagore also composed for).

Tagore is one of those musicians that can pretty much do everything and working with him is inspiring and always reminds me how much dedication it takes to make something great. We don’t have a release date yet, or even a final mix, but it’s gonna be tasty and you can hear it when it’s done.

Tagore has just joined Just Jack on a European tour. Keep your eyes peeled.

His debut EP is available on Spotify.


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