Get to know Tirzah, the singer making beautifully stark r'n'b

Getting out of your comfort zone is important, or so we’re told. But 30-year-old Tirzah Mastin is more than happy sticking with what she knows best.

“I enjoy what I’m doing with Mica so much that I don’t feel pushed to work with other people,” she says, going some way to explain why, apart from a guest appearance on a Tricky record a few years back, she’s only really worked with one other musician in 15 years. “Even when I’m with Mica it’s hard enough getting stuff out of me sometimes!” she laughs.

The Mica she talks of is Mica Levi (or Micachu), the multi-instrumentalist and singer who’s worked with Mount Kimbie and Matthew Herbert, scored the films Under The Skin and Jackie and has been Tirzah’s partner in crime since the pair’s schooldays.

Although the project bears Tirzah’s name, the vocalist sees the venture as a joint effort, one that’s been in the works since the pair started collaborating on music in their lunch breaks while studying at Watford’s Purcell School for Young Musicians
in their early teens. “We were lucky and had access to all of this music equipment in school,” she explains. “So we’d be in the music tech room every lunchtime from when we were fourteen.”

Although Tirzah put music to one side to study textiles at London College of Fashion while Mica was studying at The Guildhall, their track ‘I’m Not Dancing’ was played in a well received live stream in 2013 and Greco-Roman quickly came calling. “We never really had any intention of releasing what we were making,” she tells us. “And then all of a sudden we’ve got an EP coming out and we’re making a music video.”

Tirzah’s ambivalence towards pop stardom meant music was released at a leisurely pace, with two subsequent Greco-Roman EPs at two-year intervals, and it’s taken five years since her first release for a full album to finally see the light of day, (and for Mixmag to manage to tie her down to an interview). “Mica’s a bit of a workaholic and always has a load of projects on the go,” she says. “But I’m a bit more of a recluse and take things at a slower pace.”

Thankfully the album’s worth the wait. Out on Domino this month, ‘Devotion’ is modern soul and r’n’b of the highest calibre, Tirzah’s laconic yet heartfelt vocals mingling perfectly with Mica’s gentle, sparse and quietly innovative production. Citing the likes of Al Green, Barry White and D’Angelo as key influences, lyrically the album charts classic soul music territory, dealing with love, loss and longing.

“It’s a very insular album. Don’t go expecting party bangers!” she laughs.

When your comfort zone sounds this good, why bother getting out?

‘Devotion’ by Tirzah is out on Domino on August 10