Get Familiar: Finn Foxell
Finn Foxell is Shepard's Bush-based but bound for international pastures. The young contemporary artist has dropped a stream of consistently impressive records alongside a series of visuals that align with his vision. As we enter another lockdown it was time to catch up with Finn Foxell and get familiar with the emerging young talent.
Can you introduce yourself to our readers and let us know a little bit about what you do?
I’m Finn Foxell, 22 from Shepherd’s Bush and I love making music
You have quite a deep portfolio, how long have you been doing music for?
Since I was about 15/16, I dropped a lot of music on SoundCloud for a couple of years before getting some distributed.
What were the first studio sessions like for you compared to now?
The first we’re just me and Parallel in his room adding stock effects to some vocals on ripped beats, slowly I got in a swing of sessions with him and local people making beats, I would write on tfl a lot and bring lyrics to the studio, now I like to save my creative energy for inside the session, a lot of instruments in the mix too; love it.
And now you have a COLOURS session, how was the reaction to that?
The colours was a proper milestone for me growing up watching it, it was mad as they picked the track out off my new EP and went for the most rap based tune, which I was initially a bit worried about as my music has been evolving I didn’t want my big plateau to not show everything I’ve got you know? But it’s been a lovely response and it turns out as a lot of people’s favourite of the project, big up the colours Berlin family!
You’re rolling around the U.K with Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn how did this partnership come about?
Frankie hit me up a while ago and we’d been meaning to chop it up in stu, he later asked if I’m down to support and I’d been a fan of the music for time so was chuffed, joining the lads was a proper experience, they are some good people!
You’re only 22 - how do you find the motivation to keep grinding during a lockdown?
I felt mad privileged to be getting into a position of being able to make music as my proper earner as well as passion around that time, so it felt easier than ever to hideaway And work in lockdown, a lot of music I made then I’m still so excited about to bring to ears in 2022, the excitement of the evolvement of sound kept me in focus and on toes for sure.
So you're part of Elevation Meditation, how did you guys come together?
Most of us are from Shepherd’s Bush minus Louis culture from Battersea, and all grew up some way or another mutually, whether through primary school, steel pan or dance group. Then around 15/16 we all started linking up to smoke and make music and the cohesion just formed, all same boat and felt we’d found our people, still, my brothers and I've got a lot to thank them for, they are another reason that’s kept me motivated and on track.
Where do you go to write your music?
I’ve always written on bus & train, something about the visual stimulation in the background I always thrived off. I still do that but am more spontaneous. Most of the time now I unleash whatever’s built up over a week or two in normal life all in that one session, my brain kinda clicks into it once I’m inside the studio walls like it’s outlet time.
Is this a safe space for you?
Yeah man sometimes I think one of my only, music keeps me sane and I can 100% be me, I’ve never been very good at expressing my emotions in the past, writing and performing it’s an unbeatable outlet and release. Certain things I’ve found hard to communicate to close ones I’ve done first in a song, most of which I never show.
What other contemporary artists do you look up to?
Andre 3000, Manu Chao, maverick sabre, mormor, Anthony Hamilton, Ben Howard
Where within this scene are you staying plugged into what's going down?
In my world if I keep it a buck, but a couple of blogs I’ll keep an eye on too and here there I’ll do the YouTube rabbit hole dives into some current stuff.
Where can people find more music from you?
All streamers, I just dropped a new 7 track project called ‘alright sunshine’ with 3 music videos on my YouTube, and if you want to go digging there is a bunch of old stuff on SoundCloud
You recently ran 5k a day - what made you want to do this?
Me and my girlfriend Mags felt compelled to try to raise some money for Uyghur Muslim refugees fleeing China, we thought running would be a good challenge and it was! We got some good donations and hopefully helped some people off the back of it. Want to try something like this again soon
What can we expect from you over the next few months?
Next year I’ve got some precious music of mine I’m releasing, these next singles mean so much and are the most confident & vulnerable art I’ve made, been nurturing them for so long they like my babies haha. I've also got my first headline UK tour in May 2022 which tickets have just gone live for.