Pop-Culturalist.com

Rhys Tivey is an emerging artist to keep your eye on in 2020. Fresh off the release of his new single, “Rodin,” which he dedicates to his mother, Rhys is getting ready to drop his debut album, Unsteady. Pop Culturalist caught up with Rhys to learn more about it.

PC: How did you discover your passion for music?
Rhys: When I picked up the trumpet at nine years old and discovered Miles Davis for the first time, I was captivated by his use of silence and how it created a sense of depth and soul. Playing from that kind of subdued intensity that he inspired felt powerful.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Rhys: Miles Davis was my main source of passion from nine to twenty-two. I stopped listening to him as devoutly and started finding a similar inspiration of subdued intensity from artists like James Blake, Bon Iver, and Frank Ocean. I also grew up playing a lot of classical music in an orchestra, which saturated my ears with sounds of Ravel, Dvořák, and Stravinsky.

I also think growing up with two artists as parents was very influential. On weekends, I would stay at my dad’s giant car garage-turned-modern-light art studio in the middle of the woods, and he’d often be working on light art pieces. His intended art impact of creating a transcendent experience was influenced by him studying as a Buddhist monk in Japan. That type of intention and that hermetic attitude toward the creative process have been of great influence.

PC: Tell us about your new single, “Rodin.” What inspired the track?
Rhys: “Rodin” was the fastest production time from start to finish of any song I’ve made. It maybe took twelve to sixteen hours premix. The song was a gift for my mother for the holidays. As a bronze sculptor, her biggest influence is Auguste Rodin. I really resonated with his quote “the artist must create a spark before he can make a fire, and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation.” The lyrics are inspired directly from that, from reflecting on how the process of artistic creation is like starting a fire.

PC: You’re releasing your debut album soon. What can fans expect from Unsteady?
Rhys: Unsteady is a series of love songs set to production soundscapes of sensitivity, intensity, subtlety, delicacy, complexity, delicious experimentation, humor, and some jarring transitions. They can expect to slow down a bit and be surprised.

PC: What do you hope to say with Unsteady?
Rhys: Each of the songs on Unsteady were written with a significant woman in my life in mind. “Bday BBm,” “Hopes,” “Wisdom,” and “Unsteady” are all inspired by a woman—who didn’t do labels—that I was romantically connected with throughout 2017 to 2018. “Ready” was from an ex in 2016. “Design” was from a dear friend and creative collaborator who I’d been creating song-poems with over email while I was acting in a bizarre underground theater in Berlin. And “Rodin” was for my mom. How do we build a healthy lasting relationship or at least leave each other even better off than when we entered the relationship? “Unsteady” is kind of the story of me asking myself that question over the course of three years. Some of the songs are revelatory celebrations of devotion and ecstasy and yearning; some are tongue-in-cheek humorous; some are meditations on grief. I hope to offer a space for people to feel into these energies and discover something beautiful and new about their own journey in relationships.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Rhys: Taylor Swift

PC: First album you bought?
Rhys: Tribe Called Quest’s The Love Movement

PC: First concert you attended?
Rhys: I really can’t remember. One of my most memorable concerts from when I was younger would have to be Chris Potter Quintet.

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Rhys: Miles Davis’ Live At The Plugged Nickel. There is so much freedom and emotion and “f**k convention” in everyone’s playing on that album.

PC: A venue on your bucket list to perform at?
Rhys: Brooklyn Steel

PC: A must-have on the road?
Rhys: Silencing headphones and vegan protein powder.

To keep up with Rhys, follow him on Instagram.