2020 should have been a lot busier for Paradox. At the end of last year, the South London lyricist dropped his debut EP, ‘Box of Paradoxes’, at a launch party at Brixton’s Ritzy, and in the same month he headlined his first show. So, it would be natural if this young musician was feeling a little dejected with what this year has actually delivered, but that isn’t how we find him. Instead, his track ‘One Day’ has been played on BBC Radio and he has been spending his lockdown writing at the coast, making plans for the future and recording the super slick video for ‘Hiatus’, the penultimate track on the EP.

Shot in black and white, through the ever-stylish lens of Ollie Trenchard, the video was directed by new talent Ivory Campbell. The Raindance graduate has been directing for two years, specialising in narrative short films, like her charming piece shot in Kenya, As We Fell Into The Sun (watch it here) and she brought that narrative focus to this project, too. Taking her cues from the lyrics in ‘Hiatus’, which sees Paradox meditating on his past, present and future, Campbell was inspired by the idea of reflection. Incorporating mirrors and shadows to bring out that story, the video was shot across South London, in locations significant to Paradox.

From Crystal Palace and Stockwell to the Barbican Centre, Campbell cleverly scouted locations that suited Trenchard’s trademark photography style and love of Brutalist architecture. Having shot stills for three years, ‘Hiatus’ is one of the self-taught artist’s first forays into video, and the geometry, symmetry and precision that mark his work are ever present in this carefully considered short. Paradox tells us more…

Talk to us about Hiatus

It's kind of like my diary, I'm talking to myself about the things that have been going on and getting a lot off my chest. At the time I was making it, in 2019, I was going through quite a lot. A hiatus is what I thought I would have needed after the whole EP and I kind of thought that I'm getting all of this out for me to be able to move on and grow as a person after a little break.

The video is sick! At first, as it is with any meetup with new people it was a bit like a date, but they made me feel comfortable, we had jokes and I felt really comfortable. I liked the result too. I think the video is amazing; I didn’t know what to expect but I'm happy that it is what it is.

How would you describe your sound?

It's quite hip hop and grime influenced but I’m more about how I'm sounding rather than labelling it with a music style. But people like Dave, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Jme and BBK inspire me and I think right now, the whole of the UK scene is really inspiring. For me, a lot of it comes from things I go through and things that I see other people go through – I have the need to write about it and then something just comes out.

Can you tell us about your route into music?

I was born and raised in South London and I was always interested in music. My mum is big into music, she loves festivals and all of that kind of stuff. When I was at school we all used to freestyle at lunch time, we had a beatboxer and we would play around with it.

Then I started to go to Raw Materials in Brixton. It’s a music and media charity that works with young people, they've got proper studios there, bare Macs so you can work on production and all of these things. For the first year or two, I was meeting up with different people and learning from the mentors there. Since then I've been putting myself through bare courses.

Who is your music for?

I think it might be speaking to everyone who feels that they don't get spoken to in a lot of the music that's mad popular. I feel like anyone can listen to my music and hear something that they can relate to or understand, but I make music for me. I need to make music.

What is the story behind Box of Paradoxes?

The reason that I've called it ‘Box of Paradoxes’ is, obviously, I'm Paradox, and the stuff that’s on the EP is quite personal. So, me making it and putting it out is me opening up the box of paradoxes. It’s similar to Pandora's Box, except that everything that’s coming out from inside this box is about me.

The final thing to come out of Pandora’s Box is hope. Is that something you feel with this record?

The last line in ‘Hiatus’ is, "Hiatus until I grow again", which could be interpreted in different ways but yeah, I guess, I am hopeful. I don't really know what's going to happen, but I want to make a video for ‘One Day’, which is the track that's been on the radio, and I've got a lot of new content, just written, not recorded, so I’m thinking about another project for the new year. I've got a couple of collabs coming out and I want to start getting some more headline shows. I need to do bigger shows like the O2 Islington. My headline was in December and I performed a little bit at the beginning of this year, but I’ve got so much more of a following now, so I think it's a good decision to do more shows.

Visit Paradox
Directed by Ivory Campbell
Shot by Ollie Trenchard

Published on 10/09/2020