Southwest Showcase: t l k + Special Guests *POSTPONED*
t l k is an independent producer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and collaborator based in Bristol (UK). Shaped by Bristol’s live improvisation scene and manifested in their introverted moments, t l k creates immersive landscapes to better understand the worlds in which we swim.
Fusing elements of melancholic downtempo, electronic minimalism and ‘Bristol Jazz’, t l k’s sound world and vocal vulnerability have allowed them to be recognised as a strong emerging force in the Bristol music scene. t l k introduced their modular band to the live space in 2021 (most frequently James Storm Otieno - bass, sax; and Liam Twohig - drums), noted for their “rich sound and delicate strength” (B24/7).
Releasing music since Nov 2020, t l k has been translating her production to live band arrangements since summer 2021. In its first year, the live t l k project has played extensively across Bristol’s core venues, supporting the likes of Anchorsong (Tru Thoughts), Tusks (One Little Independent) and Waldo’s Gift (Black Acre), as well as shows further afield in London, at Sage Gateshead, Snape Maltings and Jazz Stroud Festival, to name a few. Alongside regular and new collaborators, t l k has a monthly live residency to explore original, improvised and reworked material at renowned genre-evading melting pot, The Gallimaufry.
Debut EP, Strength In Tenderness, was released in Feb 2022. It forms t l k’s first extended portfolio, introducing their ethereal sound world, experimental production and thematic influences. For t l k, developing the EP has underlined the necessary nature of music making as a medium for psychological processing, carving space for deeper understandings of trauma, loss and selfhood to evolve. The EP has received support from BBC Introducing, Jazz FM, SWU.FM, Soho Radio and Noods Radio, as well as tastemakers in Hamburg, Lisbon, and on Lithuanian national radio, LRT.
“t l k has pretty quickly solidified herself as one of the city’s most exciting experimental artists”
Harriet Robson, BBC Introducing in the West, March 2022
“Her music has patient economy, eschewing unnecessary complication in favour of skeletal minimalism at times… the delicate strength and clarity of t l k’s vocals claim an unforced reserve and assertion”
(Tony Benjamin, Bristol247, Oct 2021)