Soul Thirst Music
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Soul Thirst Music are a husband and wife duo from England who released their third single 'Slow Down' last year. Louder Than The Music spoke to the duo to find out more about their music, and their plans to release a long-awaited debut album.
For those who haven't heard of you before, can you tell us a bit about yourselves and how you got involved in making music?
We are a husband and Wife gospel/soul duo who have been creating music, songwriting and performing together since 2009. Generally you’ll see Charlotte singing and Tochi playing guitar. We both grew up in musical...
Read More Soul Thirst Music are a husband and wife duo from England who released their third single 'Slow Down' last year. Louder Than The Music spoke to the duo to find out more about their music, and their plans to release a long-awaited debut album.
For those who haven't heard of you before, can you tell us a bit about yourselves and how you got involved in making music?
We are a husband and Wife gospel/soul duo who have been creating music, songwriting and performing together since 2009. Generally you’ll see Charlotte singing and Tochi playing guitar. We both grew up in musical families and churches and eventually started working together in 2009 and later fell in love! We married in 2016 and are now parents to two beautiful girls. The music has continued since then! By day Charlotte is a stay at home Mum to our two girls, and Tochi works in Human Resources, by night we are creatives with a passion for using our music and other creative gifts to heal and refresh others and have a lot of fun doing it.
Tell us about your new single 'Slow Down' and what the inspiration behind it was?
We were speeding in a 20 mile zone, not literally but figuratively. Newly engaged, excited and in love we searched for what would be our first home but did not take the time to seek God’s wisdom and direction. Charlotte booked viewing after viewing and on one particular day things went horribly wrong, Charlotte ended up at an address miles away from where the viewing was and had to go home after a wasted 2hr journey. The truth of it is that we were being too impatient and that led to making stupid mistakes. The next day on the way to work Charlotte saw a residential sign flashing ‘SLOW DOWN’; the message hit her like a lightning bolt and the first verse and chorus to Slow down were written before she got to work. The Soulful hook drives home a warning to gently press the brake pedal and seek Divine wisdom so you won’t be forced to slam the brakes. ‘Slow down’ was released in September 2021.
We’ve since released our version of ‘Have yourself a blessed little Christmas’, a little-known version of ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas’. Hugh Martin wrote this beautiful version of the song after he became a Christian.
'Slow Down' is taken from your upcoming album - what can you tell us about the album?
It’s our debut album that has been a long long time coming. We’ve been working on this project since 2014 so it’s absolutely been a labour of love. The album will include around 10 tracks of acoustic and acoustic inspired songs with lyrics that speaks directly to our Christian journeys. From our older originals like ‘Hunger and Thirst’ and ‘Rebuild the walls’ which are songs that have come out of desperation in our prayer times to brand new songs such as ‘Hold on’, ‘Choose faith’ which are anthems of hope and courage written during this worldwide pandemic. There will also be a few hymn re-arrangements such as ‘The Love of God’ and ‘Under His wings’, bringing a fresh take on some old classics. In terms of our sound, you’ll hear some stripped back purely acoustic songs, some upbeat R&B sounds and some more ballad-like traditional gospel sounding songs with classical, jazz and other eclectic sounds weaved in between. We’d initially wanted to release it in 2021 but that was a difficult year as Tochi lost his Dad so we’ve taken some out time to grieve and deal with everything involved around the loss with the administration, funeral etc. It can all be really traumatic so Tochi took a break from music for a while.
What message would you like people to take from your music?
We believe that music is able to heal and restore. In fact it can do more than we even understand! Our hope is that just as when David played his harp for King Saul and was healed, that those who listen to our music will also experience spiritual and emotional restoration through our music and the Holy Spirit. We also pray that this experience will lead them into the arms of their heavenly Father where they will find their soul thirst is satisfied.
How would you describe your style of music and what are your influences?
We describe our music as soulful, harmonious, easy listening with gospel and inspirational themes. In addition to gospel you will find Rnb, jazz and classical influences in our music. We believe in mirroring the lyrics in the music and write poetically often using metaphors and symbolic language to paint pictures. We are lovers of harmony too!
If you could work with any songwriter, who would it be and why?
Charlotte: This is a tough question to narrow down to just one. I would love to work with Brenda Mogoi, Jonathan McReynolds and Philippa Hanna. I’d love to co-write with them because I admire their songwriting ability and musicality and would love to create something impactful with them. I would also love to write with Larnelle Harris, Babbie Mason and Stevie Wonder because their gift has such a huge influence in my own songwriting and creative journey.
Tochi: For me, I would love to work with Kirk Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Jonathan Butler, Take 6 and Lauryn Hill. Their work and musicality have been some of the biggest influences on my playing and my music journey and they are all phenomenal artists in their own right. I think working up close with the greats would teach me so much and collaboration is always a blessing so hopefully there would be mutual growth!
How would you define success in your career as an artist?
C: My idea of success is for our music to impact people’s lives for eternity. For them to experience healing or hear God’s voice when they listen. Or simply to desire to know Him more or take action as a result of a message they hear in our songs to; ‘hunger and thirst after righteousness’, or to ‘Slow down’, and ‘Hold on’ just as the songs encourage them to.
T: Success would be to make music that is impactful and stands the test of time, touching not just this generation but generations to come. I believe music should glorify God and/or uplift mankind and if we can put out music which does that, I’d be happy. I think being able to earn a decent living from your art is also a good thing to aim for.
What is your favourite album of all time?
C: Wow that is a tough one. I’d definitely say ‘Mary Mary- ‘Thankful’ is definitely up there though along with Take 6 self-titled album from back in 1989.
T: My favourite album of all time is a difficult one. I have favourite albums from the 70s, 2 from the 80s, 90s and 00s. If I had to pick out of my top 5, it would probably just about go to The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin, an album which has hit after hit on it. A close second would be Take6’s debut album.
You're stuck on an island, it's hot, you only have enough battery life left to listen to one song on your phone. What track is it?
C: Right now it would be a song by a friend of mine called Brenda called ‘Sing Noel’ featuring Wayne Ellington. It’s a bossa nova/jazz style take on the popular carol ‘The first Noel’. It brings me such joy!
T: There’s a song by J Moss on his Christmas EP called “Love” which is like a modern hymn and I absolutely adore that song right now. It makes me smile every time I hear the melody and the swirling music and strong vocals!
What does the next year hold for you?
Finalising and releasing our debut album is our aim! We had all our plans laid out for it to come out in 2021, but had to deal with the sudden and unexpected loss of Tochi's Dad. Anyone who has dealt with grief knows how challenging it can be but we're hoping to be able to press ahead this year. We also want to do some more work around Children’s music and creating new scripture songs so watch this space!
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Soul Thirst Music Release Third Single 'Slow Down'
Soul Thirst Music, the husband and wife duo from England, release their third single 'Slow Down' from their upcoming album. After the success of their first two singles, 'Have Mercy' and 'The Love Of God' which have racked up…
