Rufus has released his debut single ‘Tongue’.
The alias of Ben Lobban, Rufus has teamed up with fellow Edinburgh artist Dahlia for the synthpop single.
Describing the track, Ben explained the song is about “knowing your self-worth and not wasting your love on people who don’t show you the same love in return.”
To celebrate the single release, Ben shared with us 5 tracks that influenced ‘Tongue’.
Mura Masa – complicated (Feat. Nao) | Listen via Spotify
I’ve been listening to Mura Masa since his early EPs. For me ‘Complicated’ encapsulated everything that I liked about Mura Masa’s work up to that point: it has a great feel & bounce; the choice of sounds and instrumentation is perfect for the track; the vocoder section that comes after the choruses just sounds so interesting, and it is another collaboration with NAO after ‘Firefly‘. This song reminds me of good times in summer or driving long distances in the car or bopping along while cooking in the kitchen; which I hope ‘Tongue’ will be reminiscent of when people listen to it. There is even a nod to the song title in the lyrics for ‘Tongue’. Watching Mara Masa’s career rocket upward has been a great inspiration for me as I also create my music on a laptop in my flat. Of course, everyone dreams of the big studio with endless top-quality gear but it is great to know that artist like Mura Masa, or Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, or George and Matty from The 1975 can produce these amazing records “in-house”.
Little Dragon – Runabout | Listen via Spotify
A friend showed me this song the summer after my first year at uni whilst we were on holiday together. I’d heard of Little Dragon before but was blown away when I listened to this track. It sounded a little jagged, very lively, and I loved how Yukimi’s voice and the synths complimented each other so well. I think I’ve been trying to capture that energy in my own productions ever since! The very first phone recording of the idea that would eventually become ‘Tongue’ sounds like a Little Dragon track. It was played on my Technics SX-K100 keyboard from the early 80s; which was gifted to me by a friend of my dads after they had a clear out. It’s definitely not a ‘classic’ keyboard, but it has eight amazing sounds which are nothing like the instruments they are trying to emulate; eight preset drum rhythms; and I love it. For me, that lo-fi, jagged, roughness definitely sparked something in me to pursue the idea for ‘Tongue’.
Chet Faker – 1998 | Listen via Spotify
Nick Murphy (AKA Chet Faker) might just be the coolest guy ever. His use of synths and samples to create music that has so much soulfulness is outstanding to me. After developing that initial idea for ‘Tongue’ from the phone recording on the SX-K100 I spent a lot of time searching for the right sounds. I had already recorded the syncopated drums and staccato bassline and was searching for a smoother, rounded synth sound to juxtapose against them. In a moment of epiphany, I thought of ‘1998’ – particularly the soft-sounding synth with the lazy attack which features prominently throughout the track. After a quick adjustment to one of the synths I’d been experimenting with I had the sound for ‘Tongue’ I was looking for.
Charli XCX – Out of My Head (feat. Tove Lo & Alma) | Listen via Spotify
An artist that Dahlia & I both bonded over is Charli XCX. ‘Out of My Head’ has often been one of my go-to songs by her; I think it’s an example of Charli XCX’s premium pop writing. Her lyrics are always so direct and so effective at portraying the character or scenario she is writing about. I certainly had her style of lyric writing in mind when we were discussing ideas for ‘Tongue’. Part of what made working with Dahlia so fun was how collaborative the experience was; after sharing a few thoughts we both had a pretty good sense of the story we were writing about and I would like to think that you can hear a Charli XCX flavour in the lyrics.
The 1975 – How to Draw / Petrichor | Listen via Spotify
I am a self-confessed fanboy of The 1975; I love the production style of their drummer George. The interlude tracks on their albums, such as ‘How To Draw / Petrichor’, are a goldmine for inspiration and both halves of this track had a definite influence on ‘Tongue’. It can be heard in the bridge between the first verse and chorus. I asked Dahlia to improvise several melismatic vocal ad-libs over the section, then chopped them together quite arbitrarily and added some effects to create what you hear in the recording. I think introducing this sort of ‘chance’ element or approaching ideas unmethodically can bring a real human feel to a track – especially when pop can become very rigid and quantized. Also, the drums in the latter half of ‘How to Draw / Petrichor’ had a big influence on the sound of the drums in ‘Tongue’. I loved the aggression that I heard and can distinctly remember sitting down to rework the drums in ‘Tongue’ to capture the same emotion. More generally, I have an appreciation for the subtle textures that are layered-up in the background of a lot of The 1975’s music. The introduction of ‘Tongue’ is dozens of layered sounds like samples of pianos with a delay effect, wine glasses being struck then reversed, heavily edited vocals; which all reappear at different points in the track.
You can listen to Rufus ‘Tongue’ (Feat Dahlia) below via Spotify: