Canadian Future Bass Phenom Bounces Back from Hardship. - Tennyson: Feelwitchu
Krister Axel
4
Born Luke Pretty, Tennyson’s creative mind first bloomed in the basement of his parent’s home in Edmonton, Canada. His younger sister Tess has long been his partner, learning to play drums alongside his work on the keyboards. The siblings cut their teeth in local jazz clubs as Luke explored the frenetic rhythms that have since become synonymous with his stage persona.
After becoming acquainted with production software in his teens and posting his tracks on Soundcloud, Tennyson quickly rose to become a top name in the world of Future Bass. His tracks now engage more than half a million listeners on Spotify alone in a given month—and he's just getting started. But it wasn't always easy.
Just as the COVID outbreak was spreading around the world, Tennyson found himself suffering from a different kind of infection. A nasty bout of mold poisoning in his childhood home filled him with existential dread: his ears were ringing and he couldn't even put on headphones. Suddenly, he was fighting for his very livelihood. Forced out of his room, he moved into a 'gross' airbnb while his dad ripped up the floorboards.
Luke found solace in what he knew best. He wrote songs on his computer, more to keep his hands busy than as thoughtful expression. But the time investment soon paid off. "I was working on these tiny little speakers and making what I thought was garbage," he remembers, but listening back to the music, the melodies made him cry. “It sounded like what I went through,” he says.
Rot is a musical diary of a brain gone sideways, the sound of a young artist on the brink of his own disaster. It’s also the moment that Tennyson decides to put his own vocals on nearly every track. With a new and hard-earned confidence in his writing, his singing, and his skills sets as a producer, Tennyson has arrived as the artist he was meant to be. "Feelwitchu" featured a combination of Tennyson’s signature beat-heavy grit, tempered with an extra hint of pop magic. The figures are a little simpler and the hooks a bit catchier: a change Luke had to make to please his ringing ears. His new take on Indie Electronic is exciting, unexpected, and ferocious.
Enjoy.
You said it won't be so easy
But I feel so high
Yeah you got the power to break me
You oughta know how I feelwitchu
I feel like I figured out how to be a normal artist. I have a way better handle on basic concepts … especially lyrics. — Tennyson
Visit Tennyson on Instagram.