Lynda Dawn opens up a world of luxurious vignettes through her angelic vocals. In every note, the northwest London-raised artist has perfected a blend of her early musical influences with a timeless aesthetic and an interplay of soul, funk and jazz.
There’s an intentionality behind Lynda Dawn’s mystique.
It’s mid-morning on a damp, late winter day in South London, but Dawn’s warm presence thaws out the chill in the air almost instantaneously as we speak. The singer, songwriter and producer isn’t keen on making her progress a public affair, “I tend not to speak about the work until it’s done,” she explains. Although her catalogue of achievements is truly brag-worthy, she abstains from any kind of bluster, even in the way she speaks there is an inherent softness. “Generally, when it comes to my work, I'm a perfectionist…” she emphasises, “I’m cut from a different cloth where I don't really care about feeding the algorithm that much”.
Despite this humility, there’s a multitude of reasons why Dawn is well within her right to be brandishing her accomplishments. From 2018’s breakthrough single ‘Move’, a funky tune featured as a part of Giles Peterson’s Brownswood Bubblers project, to 2019s Braziallian jazz, soul and bossa nova inspired At First Light EP. And of course, not forgetting the moment she opened the stage up for her greatest inspiration and musical idol, Patrice Rushen, in 2021. The latter of whom she talks about with a sparkle in her eye, describing the time she encountered Rushen backstage as a definite “pinch me moment”.
Lynda Dawn shot by X
Styling
Make-up
“I've always resonated with the music of yesteryear – I've always felt inspired by different sounds that are considered more analogue.” This fascination originated from her nascent years via the indelible education in the musical greats provided by her parents. Her dad would take time to introduce her to the requisite decades of 60s and 70s jazz, while her mum provided her everything she needed to know about the vibrant era of 80s boogie.
Taking cues from the artists she grew up listening to and the intangible feeling they would provide, Dawn has now curated her own stratosphere of sounds; an ode to their originality. Growing up in a Nigerian Pentecostal church, Dawn and her brother joined the choir at a young age: with Dawn singing and her brother sat at the keys. Years later the pair can still be found jamming together, creating tracks like ‘Arise’, a groovy avant-garde take on soul, which brings forth hints of their gospel foundations and Dawn’s sweet soprano that could open up the heaven’s.
Check out the full conversation below and don’t miss Dawn’s hand-picked selection of female soul for Majestic’s community on Spotify.
Lynda Dawn by X
Your sound taps into some of the most pivotal eras in music from the 60s soul era to the revolutionary post-disco sounds of the 80s. What has inspired this love for crate-digging?
I've always resonated with the music of yesteryear – I've always felt inspired by different sounds that are considered more analogue. Specifically from the 70s and 80s... And then some 60s and 90s, as well. I think it's heavily based on my upbringing. My dad got me into a lot of 60s and 70s Jazz on vinyl. And then my mom was more into that 80s boogie, rare groove. I just never really let that go. I started to weave my own world in terms of the music I like listening to and the music that I want to make. And I've just always gone back to those early influences. Even when I was growing up and I was liking more of the modern music that my friends would listen to, like r&b songs that I always loved – I would find out later in life that they were all samples from 70s funk and soul tracks or 80s boogie. Which then meant I leaned further into the music that I was raised on, and I'd end up refamiliarising myself with someone’s catalogue after hearing a sample somewhere.
Absolutely. There are a lot of pivotal moments in music that originate from those eras. You can follow a lineage from those periods in the music we listen to today.
100%! And I think the fact that the music from those eras it just felt really authentic, it just had a magic to it. A lot of the sounds they were creating then hadn't been done before, so it was breaking new boundaries. They were also responding to what was going on in the world. I'm just obsessed with music from that era. So through that I started getting into digging and collecting records and expanding my knowledge of music from that era, and then of course, that influences the music that I make.
Lynda Dawn - Any Way You Want (Music Video)
Directed by Kaivalya Brewerton
DP: Arabella Turner
Make-up: Imani Naghten
There’s also the gospel element to your music, songs like ‘Arise’. You’ve described in previous interviews about singing in a church as an education that was both musical and spiritual. How did you translate those experiences into your music?
I grew up in a Pentecostal Nigerian church and I joined the choir at a really young age. My brother Jason, who normally plays the keys with me, played the keys on 'Arise'. He was also playing in the church band, so we grew up surrounded by those sounds which influenced us in a major way. And I think in terms of recording and writing songs, building on choir-based harmonies that are quite important and something that I like to include in a lot of my songwriting. It's fun just having a lot of different harmonies, especially gospel-influenced ones. People can perceive it and receive it in so many different ways. So even if, as a listener, you don't have that kind of religious background yourself; you can still look at it in a spiritual way. And it doesn't have to be about God and the church per se – you can look at it in a more abstract way. People are normally surprised when I tell them that it's a gospel track. Even though I grew up in the church I wouldn't necessarily describe myself as a Christian, but I do think I'm quite spiritual. So I guess that came out through the music unintentionally.
Some of the things that some of the best things in life are done unintentionally. Whatever the background of the listener is, I think there’s a way the emotion can resonate.
Music is a universal language. From listening to a lot of praise and worship songs when I was growing up, you can just feel that emotion and energy. So whether or not you you have that point of reference from growing up in the church, you can still feel the emotion. For me, gospel music has a huge influence. I don't necessarily listen to it every day like I do with jazz, soul or funk. But it's definitely there somewhere in the back of my own references. Even though my relationship with the institution of the church is complicated. My relationship with gospel music, is something that I definitely carry around with me, it's really powerful
If you could work with any artist dead or alive, who would it be? And what would that record sound like?
Patrice Rushen, of course. And Roy Ayers, I’m not sure if he’s still making music but I saw both him and Patrice perform at Cross The Tracks festival last year. I even got to open up for Patrice which was an insane moment for me. And otherwise perhaps Jimmy Jam and Terry Nichols, they have both produced some of my all time favourite tracks.
Would you say, having opened up for one of your favourite artists, Patrice Rushen and performing on the same festival stages as Roy Ayers, has allowed you to appreciate how far you’ve come as an artist?
I think with the nature of the music industry, especially when you're independent and a
woman... The pressure can get to you and generally, when it comes to my work, I'm a
perfectionist, so there's not many times, I stop and say, 'You know what? Well done.' There's not really moments where I stop and appreciate how far I've come because it can be easy to say, 'I haven't done enough'. You know. I guess that's when you put it that way... Opening up for Patrice Rushen was incredible. And meeting her afterwards – I brought a handful of records and I asked her to pick one to sign and she knew my name! I was in tears almost. She's one of my biggest inspirations. It's definitely a pinch me moment. So although I've never stopped to say well done... I guess I'll do that now. Well done!
Although this may not be intentional I feel there’s an empowering element when listening to your music. As a woman who has carved a space for herself in the music industry, would you say you’ve encountered any kind of bias along the way?
I would say that the music that I put out so far definitely has an underlying theme of upliftment and good vibes. I wouldn't say that I've experienced any firsthand bias due to being a woman. I guess I'm fortunate enough to say that I haven't experienced that myself.But at the same time, I think it's, it's safe to say that a lot of the spaces within the music industry are quite heavily male dominated. So even when it comes to Women's Day or Women's Month... I do think that it's important to champion and celebrate women, but not for one month or one day, but in general. Especially in the music industry, because it can be a bit daunting when you see that these spaces are occupied mostly by men. But it's not something that we can't do as women to show to the younger generations coming up that your dreams are attainable.
“I do think that it’s important to champion and celebrate women, but not for one month or one day, but in general. Especially in the music industry, because it can be a bit daunting when you see that these spaces are occupied mostly by men.”
What have you been working on in the past few months?
I think I've had a lot more involvement with my current work as I've been producing a lot of the records as well. So I've had to put on different hats, not just as a singer and songwriter, but also getting involved in every single element from the mixing to everything in between. I'm definitely excited. I'm starting to get a little bit impatient, but it's a work in progress.
Your career’s trajectory says it all, from 2018’s ‘Move’ to opening up for the likes of Children of Zeus. After your time travelling Europe doing writing camps, you took a short break from everything. What did that time away provide for you?
A lot has happened since I first put out music. I was definitely in a very different headspace, especially with everything that happened in 2020. I needed to take a step back, just to do a little check in with myself and see how I was doing in response to everything that was happening around me. There were a lot of changes. And first and foremost, I had to make sure that my wellbeing was in check. I guess in the music industry, there is always pressure to churn out content, doesn't matter what the content is, as long as you look busy and active. I think a lot of people tend to commend that. But I'm maybe just cut from a different cloth where I don't really care about feeding the algorithm that much. I'm just a purist in that sense, the art that I put out is the mark and legacy that I'm leaving. So I never want to rush it.