On Thursdays, Del Osei-Owusu sits down with an artist on the FOTN radar and gets them to tell their origin story over a cup of tea and biscuits. This week, Synthonic is in the hotseat and he brought jaffa cakes. We like jaffa cakes.

Hello Kieron how are you?

Tired, always! Thanks for asking! 😂

Congratulations on the release of “Lampin’” how does it feel?

Great thank you. An amazing amount of work went into this one. Some of the tunes I started writing 4 years ago! So it’s great to finally get them heard.

It’s a nine track EP, is there a theme running through it?

I constantly write new music, so as I drew closer to album launch time, I chose the strongest tracks (in my eyes) but also those which I felt had some sort of correlation. The general vibe is chill, hence the name of the album (Lampin’ is an old skool term for chillin’).

What’s your favourite track from it?

I think my favourite tracks are All Day, Every Day & Lampin’. I spent a lot of time on these ones, particularly on the 3 part horn harmonies. I think they’re strong tunes & as I said, I spent a long time perfecting those in particular.

What are your favourite memories from recording it?

I moved from London to Devon a couple of years ago, for the ‘quiet life’. Turns out I’m now gigging more than ever, so that plan failed. A friend of mine (Jeremy Dunning, featured guitarist) has come to visit a few times to record in my studio and we’ve had some good laughs & a few lemonades. Good times. He also wants me to mention his famous tandoori chicken which was amazing! Lol.

What were the challenges you encountered?

I think the biggest challenges for me were writing & scoring the horn parts. We also performed at the Sidmouth International Jazz & Blues Festival in May which was the launch for the new album so I had the task of scoring all of the music for all instruments. That took me a LONG time. Memories of scoring all day & until 4am in the morning. It was worth it though of course. Synthonic has always been a writing project for me, so to put it together live has always been a bit of pipe dream. We also played at Southampton Modern Jazz Club the week before the launch (thanks to Ted Carrasco) playing to a very attentive audience, which was a great first ever gig for the project.

You’re a songwriter and composer from London how did it all begin for you?

I’ll try to give you the short (ish) answer. I started playing the piano aged 7 & I was always drawn towards composing. At about 13, I started writing on the school’s setup (Atari & early version of Cubase). Here, I must give a big shout out to my music teacher, Simon Davie, who was a huge inspiration to me. He loved jazz & got me playing in all sorts of bands at school.

At 18 I did a 3 year music degree, which involved mostly performance & composition. At 25 I started the Kieron Garrett Quartet, a jazz fusion band, which I wrote all the music for. I’ve always been drawn towards writing music. Whenever I start writing anything new, I try to start somewhere different; in a different key or using different chord voicings, trying new sounds…

What did you listen to growing up?

Honestly, my first few CDs were Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk & Ronny Jordan from memory…bought aged 11! Shortly after that, I was obsessed with the 90s Acid Jazz scene, so Jamiroquai, JTQ, Incognito, Brand New Heavies… I think you can hear those influences in my writing.

Being a keyboard player what’s in your set up?

Currently, my stage piano is a Korg SV1. It has some great EP/Rhodes sounds & it’s fairly light for gigging…and also mega simple to use. I remember sitting in a music shop in Surrey just staring at all the filters & buttons on a Nord & thinking, “this isn’t for me”! Lol. I also have a Novation bass station for synths, a Hammond SK1, an upright piano & I’m now thinking after writing this, I’d like to go shopping. I’d love a Prophet next.

What’s your favourite keyboard of all time?

Prophet. Unbelievable board.

Who are your top 3 keyboard players?

Cory Henry is my ido (LEGENDARY!!!! Lingus makes crowds go feral! Del). Then I have to go back to who inspired me years ago, so Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Ghost-Note, Anomalie, Heavytones, Snarky Puppy, PB Underground, Chromeo…

What are you looking forward to doing next?