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Progressive R&B artist
Wayne Snow is adept at atmospheric ballads, swampy funk grooves, and raw house tracks alike. The Nigerian-born, Berlin-based vocalist and songwriter arrived in the mid-2010s with his first of many collaborations with fellow producer and musician
Max Graef, and was behind a number of short-form releases as a featured and solo artist by the time he offered his debut album, Freedom TV (Tartelet, 2017).
Snow's
Figurine (Roche Musique, 2021), an airier second album that more prominently showcased his falsetto register, followed numerous additional one-off studio associations and continued work with the likes of
Graef and
Neue Grafik.
Born in Nigeria and raised in Paris,
Wayne Snow (Kesiena Ukochovbara) grew up hearing vintage soul in his household. Over time, he started playing guitar and piano, began writing songs, and performed in a band that played classic rock. While listening to
Aretha Franklin records, he discovered he could sing in falsetto, and as a result studied the work of contemporary soul-rooted R&B artists such as
D'Angelo and
Musiq Soulchild. Frustrated that he was pigeonholed in France as strictly a Nigerian musician, and infatuated with electronic music as a Black art form,
Snow relocated in 2013 to Berlin, where he felt unrestricted as an artist. Through
Julius Conrad, he met
Max Graef as
Graef was making the 2014 album
Rivers of the Red Planet, and contributed to two of its songs as co-writer and vocalist. Not wanting to be viewed as just an associate,
Snow -- aided by
Graef -- quickly put together his debut EP, Red Runner, issued mere months after
Rivers of the Red Planet.
Snow's collaborations and solo output expanded over the next couple years. He released the Rosie EP, teamed with
Darius for the single "Helios," and assisted the likes of
Mop Mop and
Neue Grafik. This all led up to
Snow's Freedom TV, a full-length debut titled in tribute to guerilla fighter, activist, and poet Freedom T.V. Nyamubaya.
Max Graef,
Neue Grafik, and
Nu Guinea all contributed as
Snow's co-producers on the album, issued in March 2017. A few months later, "Rosie" was licensed for the 12th volume of Brownswood Bubblers, a series of compilations selected by BBC DJ
Gilles Peterson, one of
Snow's earliest high-profile supporters. Between albums,
Snow remained active as a collaborator with
Darius and
Neue Grafik, as well as a wide swath of other artists including
FKJ,
Folamour, and Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange.
Figurine, his second album, followed in September 2021. ~ Andy Kellman