On the Rise in the London Jazz Scene: An Interview with Keys Player, Vocalist, and Story Teller Insxght
Keys player, vocalist and story teller, South London based artist Insxght’s rise to the prominence in the city’s jazz scene has been meteoric. A relatively new addition to the scene thanks to Covid, Insxght can already boast of headline shows at venues such as CLF Lounge, Notting Hill Arts Club and The Grow, amongst others. He has equally been successful in playing for others, lending his fingers to the key’s at Ronnie Scott’s and his voice as backing vocals to Yasmin Lacey at We Out Here festival in 2021. Inspired by the greats like Robert Glaspar and Chick Corea, Insxght adds his own twist to jazz fusion.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Insxght to find out more and get a sneak peek at his plans for the future.
We began the conversation with a discussion surrounding his name and his original music, the latest of which The Link…Is In…The BIO!!! was released 14th July, the day I first came across Insxght.
When did you adopt the name Insxght?
I adopted the name Insxght in 2019 and released my first single as Insxght that year, but then Covid happened in 2020. I started coming out of my shell a little bit in 2021 and was meant to have my first headline show at the end of 2021. Unfortunately my drummer Lox caught Covid and so it was pushed to February of this year. So February 2022 was my first big show as Insxght and since then there have been quite a few. I have also been producing, playing keys or doing backing vocals for others. This definitely feels like the first year that I’m out on the front line. This is me, if you know what I mean?
Did you produce any music before you adopted the name?
I have never released music under a different name, only ever as Insxght. I actually started producing when I was around eleven, so I was producing before I even learnt to play the keys. I only started properly learning to play when I was in Year 9, so around 13/14, but back then I went under a different name.
Dare I ask what name 11 year old Insxght went by?
After a little wrangling Insxght finally revealed what his 11 year old self thought was the coolest stage name ever.
I used to call myself J All Over. My sister came up with it. One day she turned to me and said “your name is Joshua, you’re all over it”. I tried to shorten it to JAO but then everyone started calling me JAO [J-Ow] or JO [J-Oh] and at that point I just ended up dropping it.
Insxght makes sense for what I want to do.
In what way? Where does the name come from?
The name is like a promise I have made to myself. I try to look inwards and be as reflective as possible. I believe that a lot of the confusion people experience in life or have with themselves is because they look externally for stuff as opposed to internally. I feel certain that if you looked internally, you would find out many of the answers that you seek, do you know what I mean? I feel as though everyone is trying to be woke, trying to be this, trying to be that etc… but it’s in here [he pounded his chest].
You can’t look out for your community if you can’t look after yourself.
Facts…facts!
At this point in the conversation, we moved on to a discussion of his music and the impact of Covid on his creativity. Like many artists, Insxght used the predicament of the world to inspire his creativity.
You explicitly mention Covid in your song Voices of London. How was your experience of the lockdown?
I released my first beat tape during lock down: Beat Tape, Vol.1. I was bored and decided why not do it! Although the music sounds awful to me looking back now, a lot of my more recent success at present came from the work I released during lockdown. For example, the Beat Tape, Vol.1 led to a music video, more people knowing who I was, and more projects, more beat tapes and more singles.
So you have a Beat Tape, Vol. 1 and Beat Tape, Vol.2. Is there a Beat Tap, Vol. 3 coming?
I don’t think so. The first beat tape was a surprise success in the fact that people liked it despite having not expected them to. Although I thought Beat Tape, Vol.2 sounded a lot better, I am not sure that people enjoyed it as much as the first one. Maybe it was because everything was more open, whilst back in June everything was still very much closed and you couldn’t really leave the house. I think other music needs to be released now; I think the beat tape needs to end.
Going back to the conversational aspects of the beat tapes. What is it about including recorded conversations that you enjoy to the extent that you repeatedly include them?
I have always liked music featuring conversation and different perspectives. These past couple of years have been wild for all of us and everyone has something to say about it, whether we’re talking pre- or post-pandemic or the things you have learnt in life as a result of these changes. I think everyone has a story to tell and I like bringing that to the forefront. Adding these conversations to music is like meditation, it is like therapy for me.
What is the process behind recording these conversations? Where do you source them from?
I begin knowing roughly what melodies or chords I want to use. Then I send friends a bunch of questions and ask them to reply through voice notes. I then chop up the audio, and begin working on how to incorporate it with the music.
What are the main themes and topics you explore in the beat tapes?
So the four main questions I asked people for the first one were about:
Life before Covid
A good night out that they had before Covid
A time they had too good a time to the point that they took it too far
Regrets from acting in the moment with no forethought
The questions bring the listener on a journey where you’re on a night out, you’re having fun, you’re on a high and then you fly too high to the sun and get burned. This arc-like shape of the first beat tape is also represented in the music genres explored. It begins with drum and bass; to afro swing; to then a more grime-like sound which is more manic; then to trap-soul which is more meditative and finally ends with a track which features a style that most represents me. It explores the situation and how to move forward even while on a downwards spiral. It was always the plan in the first beat tape to tell a story and mirror my life at the time. Although I didn’t need lyrics, I needed my music to tell a story. I felt that the conversation made up for the lack of lyrics.
We continued the conversation centring self-expression by discussing the role of music as a medium of communication and how Insxght sees the role of music in his life.
If you weren’t a musician, how different do you think your perception of life would be?
So different. I think I would be your typical worker bee. I don’t think I would have cause to look inwards or give myself time to. I simply wouldn’t be me. I wouldn’t be on this journey of self-discovery that I am now on. I think I would be much more career driven and more money-driven, rather than driven by the desire to be more self-aware.
Even though your perception of life might be different not being a musician, do you think it would still manifest creatively?
I would hope so, but I strongly believe that music is the most meaningful way to express yourself. I feel like everything else comes secondary to music. Even if your express yourself creatively through dance, music still features heavily. Even with acting, you are channelling emotions. However when you act, you are tapping into a character, another person’s world, another person’s life. Whereas for me, I believe that music or at least when you’re making your own music anyways, is you. YOU are in the music, YOU are in the melody. I may play some covers and tap into that, but generally my music is me.
Do you think Insxght is a character then, or is it the most authentic, genuine version of you?
I used to think Insxght was a character. I used to say that Insxght was who I was going to be as opposed to who I am now. Now I would say it’s who I am, not to say that Joshua isn’t who I am. There are so many different sides of me and Insxght is able to tap into the other parts of me in a creative way, refining and polishing these for everyone to see. There are parts of you that are private and personal to the extent that you don’t want to share it with anyone. There are parts that I only share with family or parts only shared with friends. Beyoncé said that she is both Beyoncé and Sasha Fierce (her alter ego). For me it is not like that at all. It is all one person. It is all parts of me shining in different moments, at different stages of life.
Since Insxght is so intertwined then with Joshua, would you agree that makes you slightly more vulnerable? If Insxght doesn’t have the reception that you hope for, do you see that as a comment on yourself or are you able to separate the two?
It definitely does make you more vulnerable. I feel like regardless of who I am and what name I’m using more, you have to be strong. Irrespective of what job I am doing, it is a representation of myself and people might not like it. You can approach it by seeing it that way or you can view it as people projecting their issues onto you. If it is an issue with me then I try to recognise that and fix up.
Leading on from that, what do you hope people say about your music? What effects do you want your music to have on people?
On the shallow level I want people to think that my music is pure vibes. On a deeper level I want people to have the opinion that I understand humanity and how fucked it is. How beautifully fucked humanity is. Life is beautiful, people are beautiful. People are also very fucked and we definitely choose to ignore things because of the stresses in our own lives. It is both our fault and the fault of the powers that be, as they dictate our lies and get us to fight against each other.
Moving on to some of your other achievements, I saw on your Instagram that you were part of a program called ‘Black, British and Breaking Boundaries’ on ITV. I was wondering if you could talk a bit about that.
My brother and his partner are part of an entertainment company called Project Must and they were making a short film for a channel called Together TV. They needed music for it and they really liked Good Morning London which I had already released. They asked if I could create an extended version of Good Morning London, which I did with them in the studio. The film then got picked up by ITV and Sky Documentaries. To see my name Insxght in the credits was amazing.
We continued the conversation, mentioning other achievements like BBC Radio Future Sounds and singing backup vocals for Yasmin Lacey. We then ended the interview with a brief discussion of what Insxght believed was the sound of 2022.
To finish, what do you believe characterises the sound of 2022?
Mainstream music at the moment is very simple and is very much about creating hits. I believe that now is the time to push music further, progressing genres such as jazz, hip hop, RnB and neo soul. In 2022 there is definitely a movement to bridge the simplicity of mainstream music with the intricacy of progressive jazz.
Check out Insxght’s work on Spotify and follow his Instagram @insxght_ for more information on live gigs or future projects. Insxght is definitely one of the young rising stars of the UK jazz scene and so one to watch for sure.