Selected: Jack Garratt

Geo Jordan + Tamzene

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Last Show: Friday 16 th December 2022

PizzaExpress Live (Holborn)

Jack Garratt’s take on the SELECTED series brought together 2 of London’s current rising young talents, Geo Jordan and Tamzene. Geo Jordan is an eclectic electronic artist, producer, Grammy Nominated writer and multi-instrumentalist. Tamzene is a young singer, writer and multi-instrumentalist from the coastal town of Cromarty in the Scottish Highlands. Having started learning violin aged 8, at 14 she further extended her musical dexterity by picking up guitar and embarked on writing her own material.

Geo Jordan

Geo’s self-produced solo project explores themes of the human experience. With pop oriented synthesis, lush vocals, quirky lyricism, catchy guitar riffs and complex rhythms creating a futurist fusion of electronic music brimming with eclectic influence.  

His 2021 EP “Technicolour” ushered in a new beginning for the artist, exploring a quest for self love and understanding, as one the few openly Trans British music artists in the UK.

As a multi-instrumentalist, writer and producer, Geo attained two Grammy nominations for work with global sensation Doja Cat, being one of the first openly Black Trans artists to be nominated from the UK for the accolade. Alongside a history of previous credits with BRIT award winner Lianne La Havas, MOBO award winner Ego Ella May, Oscar Jerome, Sasha Keable, Laura Roy and more in addition to touring extensively with a variety of acts, including Jungle, JGrrey, Jack Garratt & Rina Sawayama.

With a musical background spanning classical piano, guitar, bass and a university degree in jazz drums, Geo began producing at the age of 10. This led to multiple releases under various aliases, most notably as producer and guitarist in original 6 pc UK band The Hics, who were runners up for the best breakthrough category at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards.

Geo's social media presence has been ever growing, with his popular “Remix” Reels amassing over 650k+ views on social pages. His most recent EP "Technicolour” received a plethora of support from various online publications across the UK, such as Clash Magazine, featuring “Better” as their “Track of the Day”, and Wonderland premiering “Hide”, with the video amassing 150k plus on Vevo. All alongside BBC Radio, MTV, Amazing Radio, Rinse FM, MTV, Spotify Bandcamp and Apple Music Playlists, and various online publications across the UK.

With a 18 month world tour as part of acclaimed touring group Jungle recently completed, Geo is ending the year with various intimate acoustic shows, as well as completing a new project set for release in 2023. With a new  live show also in development, Geo is an exciting act to keep an eye on in 2023.“

Tamzene

It may be her debut EP, but Details marks a real coming-of-age moment for Tamzene. Across six tracks, each deeply introspective song takes on a topic from love and long-distance relationships to questions about race and identity in a social media age. Cut Me Out Your Photos is a poignant ode to heartbreak in its rawest form, Tamzene’s voice haunting as she muses on loneliness. But New Beginnings is its complete antithesis; a bright and softly rousing self-care anthem, fittingly written on a sunny day in East London.

But Tamzene’s story starts about 600 miles north of London in Cromarty, the small town in the Scottish Highlands where the 24-year-old musician called home for the formative years of her life. 

Growing up in an isolated location never stopped Tamzene from finding an audience. When she needed to fundraise money for a college service project in Thailand, Tamzene began busking, which she would continue to do for years, using her Mum's guitar. She headed to nearby Inverness.

When it came to making her own music, she combined the melting pot of influences that had impacted her throughout her life. The Scottish folk music of the highlands, the reggae introduced to her by her half-Jamaican mother and soul compilations her stepfather used to make for her. Years of busking contemporary songs by Adele, Leon Bridges, Amy Winehouse, Bon Iver, and her hero Alicia Keys taught her about the importance of killer hooks and powerful choruses, and after honing her vocal and technical skills at university, she had everything she needed, and started booking gigs around the city, festivals such as Latitude, TRNSMT, Eurosonic Noorderslag, Reeperbahn and a one-off show in New York.