Eclectic feel: Sound tripping with Cosmo Sheldrake
- Text by Niall Flynn
For Cosmo Sheldrake, eclectic taste runs in the family.
His father, a biologist, comes from a long and accomplished line of church organists, while his mother teaches Mongolian overtone chanting, and previously spent four years working with the avant-garde German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Inevitably, when it came to finally pursuing music for himself, Cosmo was always going to have an ear for the atypical.
Ahead of the release of his debut album, The Much Much How How And I, it should come as little surprise that, as far as the 27-year-old artist is concerned, it’s anything goes. A singer, songwriter, producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist (dexterity ranging from the bass clarinet to the banjo, no less), the London-based polymath is most comfortable when throwing himself head-first into the unconventional. With a catalogue of work that sees scores, soundtracks and an interactive TEDx talk filed alongside a series of potent, peculiar pop songs, Cosmo Sheldrake is an artist that truly eschews labelling. Honestly, we’ve tried.
For the latest instalment of our Monday Mix, Sheldrake is at the helm for a meandering musical voyage that perfectly encapsulates his penchant for the multifarious. “Here is a little cross-section of some tunes that have tickled me in various ways over the last little while,” he tells Huck. “Some of them have influenced the making of my album, and some are things I just like to cook to. I hope you like them.”
Moondog – “Tap Dance”
Ariel Ramirez & Los Fronterizos – “Kyrie (Vídala-Baguala)”
Antipop Consortium – “Smores”
Ba-Benzele Pygmies – “Women Gathering Mushrooms”
C.W. Stoneking – “Mama Got The Blues”
Micachu and the Shapes – “Oh Baby”
Chemutoi Ketienya & Girls – “Chemirocha”
Cree Singers – “Northern”
Los Hijos del Sol – “Cariñito”
The Beatles – “Tomorrow Never Knows”
Miles Davis – “Concierto De Aranjuez (Adagio)”
Pastor T.L. Barrett – “Knowbody Knows”
The Much Much How How And I is out on April 6 via Transgressive Records.
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