Not feeling like I was where I needed to be. “Seeing if I could live off Bandcamp and experimenting with that, that not working. “I don’t know what it was, I assume it was depression,” he says. The original brief EP more than doubled in size by the end of 2016 as he completed 20 beats for the final version, which has since become one of the most revered albums from his expansive catalog.Īfter taking a moment to think about the reasons why he chose to create a 20-song album that features song titles like “The Pain Is Still Here” and “Tears” and exclusively samples Gospel music, Tuamie believes the original sample sources used on Holy Ghost Spirituals are a direct reflection of his mindstate at the time – a common theme throughout his catalog. Despite the uncertainty in his life and the career setbacks he was navigating at the time, Tuamie’s dedication to the creative process paid off. Though Holy Ghost Spirituals first started out as an eight song Bandcamp release of Gospel-sampled beats, Tuamie was encouraged by Street Corner founder House Shoes to flesh the EP out into a full length effort by making more instrumentals out of religious music. Looking to create in near-isolation, he often arrived during off-peak hours late at night and lost himself in the process. “That’s where I finished Holy Ghost Spirituals and turned it in.” The store became an effective impromptu studio as Tuamie went there night after night with his laptop to work in Ableton Live. “It was a two story grocery store, it had a cafe upstairs, and it was 24/7,” he says. Facing an uncertain living situation and looking for a quiet place to focus his creative energy, he found refuge in a local grocery store while working on his second album Street Corner Music.
Then, amidst personal turmoil and a temporary relocation from North Carolina to Virginia in late 2016, Tuamie made one of the most emotional records of his career by utilizing a rather unconventional recording setup.
The gritty texture he achieved helped give songs like “ High Eyes” an inimitable sound unlike anything else in the beat scene at the time. After figuring out how to use the keyboard in tandem with his computer during his senior year of high school, he ran every song on the album through the sampler to give each track a distinct timbre. When he wanted his 2011 Water Loops debut to evoke the iconic sounds of an E-mu SP-1200, he purchased an inexpensive Casio SK-1 keyboard sampler.
Beyond constant learning and practice, a fair amount of resourcefulness has helped Tuamie achieve his desired sound over the years.
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