Words by Emma Warren

Londoner Brother May is surrounded by very talented individuals. The vocalist and producer has an ongoing and close collaboration with Oscar-nominated Mica Levi (Under The Skin; Jackie; Monos) and Coby Sey, who scored Victoria Fiore’s forthcoming Nascondino documentary, as part of DIY collective Curl. He’s currently working with Moor Mother and Kae Tempest. And in a very understated way, he brings a lineage that extends back to one of the most influential Nigerian bands of all time. 

His maternal granddad Akanni Akinde played guitar with Victor Olaiya And His Cool Cats, a band which bridged highlife and the afrobeat that followed. Fela and Tony Allen were both on-off members of the band, which were famous in the 1950s and early ‘60s Nigeria; the obvious choice to play at celebratory state balls when Independence came around in 1960. 

He was brought into music by his mother and the junior section of her dance group Dagarty Arts as well as his dad’s reggae band One Style MDV, and by mid-teens, he was making his own mixtapes.

“It was an amazing schooling in music,” he says. “I learned a lot from those guys. I’ve always been inspired by music and always wanting to be part of something, and create something myself. I feel like I was destined to do this. It was just so close to my heart and close to me from a young age.”

Curl Collective is a chosen family of interdisciplinary artists who record and release music, sound, and video individually, collectively, and through their series of Curl compilations, which include artists they’ve performed with or who have attended their events. The compilations are released digitally and on tape and offer a good lens into their creative world: Curl 2 featured an interlude of crowd noise submitted by film-maker Akinola Davies Jr, a layered haunting of tones from opera singer Olivia Salvadori, and a narrative retelling of 4th of July fireworks an LA hilltop across by writer Steph Kretowicz and producer Ben Babbitt.

Currently, they’re working on a new composition for Manchester dance group L-E-V, which will also be performed live. How much of the Curl-related scoring work happens collectively?

“Quite a bit happens in Curl,” says Brother May. “We work together. On [Steve McQueen’s award-winning] ‘Small Axe’, we composed that together. It was a percussion scene during a riot in the ‘Mangrove’ episode. We got the idea from a live set we do called ‘Metal’ which is where we play different metal objects at the same time, but in different sequences, whether it's a cymbal or just some metal keys.” The making was also a family affair: May’s wife and two children joined in. 

He was also involved with Frank Lebon’s recent short ‘Diddly Squat’ after the director approached him, wanting to use his music. “The film is about squatters in London, and it looks at it from a squatters point of view and from the landlord’s point of view. He wanted one of my songs, 'Monopoly Den’. I performed it live in the film. There's a squat party –  they’ve gained access to this warehouse space and I happen to be there performing.”

Recording-wise, his preferred microphone is a Røde K2. “I like the fact that it catches the acoustics of the voice quite well. It's got a crisp, sharp sound, quite upfront and direct. I think it captures my voice in its entirety, with all the character and tone – and this microphone does it really well.”

As well as collaborations with Curl’s extended family, he’s also familiar with the blessings and challenges that come with working with Conservatoire-trained musicians, having previously collaborated with the London Sinfonietta. “It’s like a bridge,” he says of situations where formal training meets informal excellence. “We meet in the middle. You gain from the classically trained person – they offer their expertise in notation and arrangement. The non-classically trained can offer more of the inspirational side. I think it’s a perfect situation. Some trained musicians have to unlearn everything to gain back that sense of DIY, that spontaneous way of doing things.” 

It’s not something Brother May has to unlearn. If he wants to release something he just talks to his fellow Curl members and the work can be out in a matter of weeks. It’s the kind of flexibility that really helped during the early days of the pandemic. 

“It was a challenge to stay creative, but everyone was keen on keeping the work rate going and staying active musically. We didn't want it to be a case where all the hard work went down the drain. We didn’t want the outside world to dictate to us what we can and can't do, even though it was a pandemic. So, yeah, we managed to just carry on working, putting out the compilations. Getting our friends to release with us was a great way to stay active.”

“The work,” he says, “just don't stop”.