Rondo Mo’s ‘The Fear’ Draws From His Experience With The Migrant Crisis – Clash Magazine

Rondo Mo is the latest iteration of the imagination of London songwriter Robbie Redway, an artist perhaps best known for his association with AKASE.

Surging ahead as a solo artist, new track 'The Fear' matches lush, probing electronics to that soulful delivery, a velvet concoction that reaches out into fresh ground.

Lyrically, Rondo Mo draws on his experiences working with charities during the migrant crisis.

Travelling to Calais, he saw first hand the impact it was having on people's lives - and the sense of common humanity that remained.

Check out the new single below, then catch our Q&A with Rondo Mo after the jump...

What moved you to become involved with the migrant situation?

To claim to 'be involved' with the migrant situation would be a little misleading of me. I volunteered with Help Refugees down in Calais, for the same reason lots of other people have - because there are thousands of homeless refugees in Europe and beyond who are being shunned by society and are in desperate need of help. Xenophobia is a driving cause of this and it's hitting the most vulnerable people the worst, people who have escaped a savage war are being told they're not welcome anywhere. It's outrageous.

How did you become involved with this particular charity?

A friend of mine, Debbie (who also took the photo for my artwork), had worked with Help Refugees before so she put me in touch with them. It's an amazing charity run by a brilliant group of people, mainly volunteers, and they are fighting a cause which rubs authorities up the wrong way, so it's far from simple for them. The situation has been forgotten about a bit because news interest doesn't sustain on one topic for long and we all get distracted by other things, so it's important to keep digging in, which is why I wanted to try to raise a bit of money for the charity with this track.

How did the experiences fuel your new songs?

The same as any experience will fuel a song or an idea really, although this is more explicit in its subject matter than most of my writing, probably because it wasn't a retrospective - I wrote the lyrics while I was away volunteering. I tend to spend long periods on my own when I'm writing because it helps me think more easily and more deeply but this one was a very different process, which is why I'm releasing it as a stand-alone. It's got a slightly different vibe to the other stuff I'm working on at the moment.

Can you tell us more about this particular track?

I wanted it to be a very direct, simple message, so the structure and lyrics are pretty straightforward, although the time signature changes in the chorus which is a little unsettling (I hope!). I always try to keep the variety of instruments I use to a minimum on each track I make. This one is basically just one synth, a piano and some drum samples, and my voice.

Driving from the hostel to the warehouse in Calais in the morning you would see people, usually young men, huddled under bridges, hiding away from the police. It reminded me of those pleasant humans who hunt animals for fun, which is where I got the main line from - 'It's not big-game hunting'. That was the initial idea and it grew from there.

Many people want to help the migrant situation, what do you feel is the easiest way for someone reading this to get involved?

There's loads of ways to help. Follow Help Refugees on social media and they will tell you what they need in terms of donations - clothes, sleeping bags, food etc. There's a huge demand for donations but the needs are quite specific so don't just send all your old stuff that you don't need any more.

They also need money so if you can spare something then please do! Buy or stream this track (wink wink) and my share will go to the charity. Or if you have some spare time it's really easy, and fun, to volunteer, you can do it in the UK I think but it's only a couple of hours to get to Calais from London.This is their website https://helprefugees.org.uk/ Nice one!

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