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Photo by Miranda May

We’ve struggled to master peace on this turbulent world, and the results might vary, but that often leaves us feeling unwell, unloved, alone and stewing. Whole industries are meant to solve for this, but the buoyant Brit Master Peace has unleashed on this second album, ‘if I don’t love you, who will?’ a musical antidote that you can take into any situation to destress. We’ve celebrated this genre bridging talent since his first singles, and his sophomore album just confirms all our priors, hes a hydra capable songwriter, smart and catchy in compositions, but has now seasoned into a realm that feels uniquely his own. Desperate to find out were his raw enthusiasm and perspective comes from, we intercepted the wordsmith on a train outside of Berlin:

OnesToWatch: First question I always ask is, why are you an artist? 


Master Peace: I ask myself that question every single day. It's a crazy life. But even if I wasn't getting paid for it, I wouldn't care, because I love the actual thing. It’s about a release of passion moreso than fame. 

If you had to go down another career path, what would it be? 

I’d be a teacher, or work with kids at a school somehow. 

Let's dig into the music. What is your songwriting process? Do you start with concepts, rhythms, topline? 

I love a melody. I can’t think of lyrics before I put the melody down. I don’t really like making the beat first, even if it’s just two bar chords, it’s going to influence the direction. 

When you're preparing for a project, how intentional are you in writing for that specific purpose or do you accumulate songs and then pick from them to match a theme of a project?

I’m a bit of both. With this record especially, it came together after I went to see a band live and was just so inspired by how many different people were there. I feel like a lot of the gigs I used to play in the early days had a similar mix of people, but now there’s such a mixture, and I was able to see what material works and what doesn’t. That helped me figure out what I felt would work on the album.

I was also going through a breakup at the time, so those things kind of aligned and inspired me to write the record. Everything came together at the right time, and I was able to evolve my style alongside that.

When you're putting together a project, I'm always fascinated by what you leave behind as an artist because I think that's always telling. How do you decide what makes the project or what do you decide to leave off? 


How I decide it is, my sister is the best A&R. I think you just have to surround yourself with women in your life. Because, for me with men, we’ll all catch up and be like, ‘Yeah, this is great, this is it.’ But with my sister she just says it straight, like, ‘This sucks.’ Everyone needs someone like that, who can just be honest.

What about ambitions for the project?
 Do you take something from it that you hope happens? Do you hope the audience takes something from it? Do you just release it into the world and let people appreciate it as they might? 


With my 1st album, everything I wanted from it, kind of happened. So, this 2nd album, I said to myself I’m not going to put any stress on it, because I feel like if I do put stress on it, I will just overthink. When my 1st album came out I didn’t get to enjoy all the big things that happened because I was so in my head even though it all worked out in the end. So this time around I want to make sure I’m actually enjoying the album coming out.

Gonna pivot to some other questions less revealing about the album and more about yourself. 
If you could dream up a festival lineup, who are some artists you’d love to perform with? 

Hemlocke Springs, Blondshell, HAIM, The 1975 and myself! 

Your mates and your family ambush you at your place. And I know you're traveling right now, so I don't know what's in your fridge, but could you whip up a meal spontaneously? And if so, what would it be? 


Oh, spag bol. You can’t go wrong with spag bol. 

If you could give me a non-music recommendation. So somewhere to visit, something to eat, something to read, something to check out. 

I’ve been watching this new TV series called Gomorrah, which is a show about gangsters in Naples. 
It's absolutely insane. I love gangster films, and I would say this is up there. You should definitely watch it.

And then you can probably anticipate the next one. Would love a music recommendation. 

Oh, I love this question. I'll probably say my mate, Rudey, he produces my records, but he's also an artist with his own artist project. He’s one of my favourite artists right now, he’s so talented and everyone needs to know about Rudey!