New on the South African musical scene, Boketto is a 5-piece
band formed by singer-songwriter Callum Kuhl and guitarist David Arnot who met
in high school in Johannesburg. In December 2015, after moving to Cape Town
they recorded an album titled 'About You', a hybrid jazz, blues rock, folk,
improvisation and groove-based album. Single ‘All I Want’ was released
nationwide to radio in June and it's blasting up charts. It’s a song about love
as a vice and an addiction. It’s a positive and negative look on a universal
subject, bound together by a moody Jazz sonic landscape. Lead Singer /
Songwriter Callum's vocals and acoustic guitar form the foundation for many of
the songs alongside Dave's melodic and improvisational approach to lead guitar.
Featuring the effortless but ferocious rhythmical drive of legendary South
African jazz/rock drummer Kevin Gibson and the percussive prowess of Ronan
Skillen on Tabla, Udu and percussion, Boketto lends from and combines sounds
and genres across the spectrum, from esoteric to pop, from traditional to
modern. Inspired by bands the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Radiohead,
Alt-J, Carlo Mombelli, Atoms for Peace and more, this is a debut album far more
mature than the age of the members creating it. The name Boketto is derived
from the Japanese word meaning ‘The act of gazing vacantly into the distance,
without thinking’. Callum notes – “I chose the name because the word itself has
no direct English translation, the shortest way we can express it is ten words
long, yet there’s this one idea in another language that captures it more
perfectly in just one word. I believe music operates similarly - music has the
potential to capture an expression of emotion better than five hours of
talking. The artwork, a joint creation by Callum and his girlfriend Yuma is
inspired by Yuma’s Mandala artwork. The experience of music comes from its
ability to create the spectrum between beauty, symmetry, and what might seem
like random choices and chaos. Callum adds – “The image of the cats creating a
yin and yang surrounded by crashing waves is a reference to our beloved cat
Alphonse who was knocked over by a car and killed. The cats are natural,
beautiful and perfect, but they are being washed away by waves, a chaotic
natural force that can take things from you without a moment’s notice. The cats
are also a reference to our favourite writer; the Japanese author Haruki
Murakami”. The album is titled ‘About You’ because, as Callum notes – “a lot of
the lyrics have non-specific metaphors in them. While they mean a lot to me, I
hope the feeling people get from the album is one that affirms their search for
themselves”. Stand out tracks on ‘About You’ include the Led Zeppelin inspired
‘River Truth’, a song Callum wrote after attending his first Opikoppi and
deciding he wanted to write a song he could perform there. As Callum recalls –
“We were in traffic for 8 hours on the way home from Opikoppi with one Robert
Plant CD and I heard the song ‘Mighty Rearranger’ dozens of times, it’s style
influenced the sound quite a bit”. Another special track is ‘Yuma’ a song about
love and the hope of its return even in times of separation. “I wrote this song
as gift to my girlfriend on our 3rd anniversary, and the lyrics, ‘I’ll hold you
in my arms, just come the new year’ were written when I thought she would probably
be moving back. She didn’t, although we’re still together now and both in Cape
Town so I’d say it’s a hopeful song”. ‘Changes’, an equally important song is
about major life changes, amidst previous comfort zones. Callum notes, “When I
got to university, everything about life started changing rapidly. I wrote this
song to mark a kind of shift in my perspective to the idea that change in life
is constant”. With an impressive line-up of experienced musicians and ground breaking
music, the future looks very bright for Boketto.
New on the South African musical scene, Boketto is a 5-piece
band formed by singer-songwriter Callum Kuhl and guitarist David Arnot who met
in high school in Johannesburg. In December 2015, after moving to Cape Town
they recorded an album titled 'About You', a hybrid jazz, blues rock, folk,
improvisation and groove-based album. Single ‘All I Want’ was released
nationwide to radio in June and it's blasting up charts. It’s a song about love
as a vice and an addiction. It’s a positive and negative look on a universal
subject, bound together by a moody Jazz sonic landscape. Lead Singer /
Songwriter Callum's vocals and acoustic guitar form the foundation for many of
the songs alongside Dave's melodic and improvisational approach to lead guitar.
Featuring the effortless but ferocious rhythmical drive of legendary South
African jazz/rock drummer Kevin Gibson and the percussive prowess of Ronan
Skillen on Tabla, Udu and percussion, Boketto lends from and combines sounds
and genres across the spectrum, from esoteric to pop, from traditional to
modern. Inspired by bands the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Radiohead,
Alt-J, Carlo Mombelli, Atoms for Peace and more, this is a debut album far more
mature than the age of the members creating it. The name Boketto is derived
from the Japanese word meaning ‘The act of gazing vacantly into the distance,
without thinking’. Callum notes – “I chose the name because the word itself has
no direct English translation, the shortest way we can express it is ten words
long, yet there’s this one idea in another language that captures it more
perfectly in just one word. I believe music operates similarly - music has the
potential to capture an expression of emotion better than five hours of
talking. The artwork, a joint creation by Callum and his girlfriend Yuma is
inspired by Yuma’s Mandala artwork. The experience of music comes from its
ability to create the spectrum between beauty, symmetry, and what might seem
like random choices and chaos. Callum adds – “The image of the cats creating a
yin and yang surrounded by crashing waves is a reference to our beloved cat
Alphonse who was knocked over by a car and killed. The cats are natural,
beautiful and perfect, but they are being washed away by waves, a chaotic
natural force that can take things from you without a moment’s notice. The cats
are also a reference to our favourite writer; the Japanese author Haruki
Murakami”. The album is titled ‘About You’ because, as Callum notes – “a lot of
the lyrics have non-specific metaphors in them. While they mean a lot to me, I
hope the feeling people get from the album is one that affirms their search for
themselves”. Stand out tracks on ‘About You’ include the Led Zeppelin inspired
‘River Truth’, a song Callum wrote after attending his first Opikoppi and
deciding he wanted to write a song he could perform there. As Callum recalls –
“We were in traffic for 8 hours on the way home from Opikoppi with one Robert
Plant CD and I heard the song ‘Mighty Rearranger’ dozens of times, it’s style
influenced the sound quite a bit”. Another special track is ‘Yuma’ a song about
love and the hope of its return even in times of separation. “I wrote this song
as gift to my girlfriend on our 3rd anniversary, and the lyrics, ‘I’ll hold you
in my arms, just come the new year’ were written when I thought she would probably
be moving back. She didn’t, although we’re still together now and both in Cape
Town so I’d say it’s a hopeful song”. ‘Changes’, an equally important song is
about major life changes, amidst previous comfort zones. Callum notes, “When I
got to university, everything about life started changing rapidly. I wrote this
song to mark a kind of shift in my perspective to the idea that change in life
is constant”. With an impressive line-up of experienced musicians and ground breaking
music, the future looks very bright for Boketto.
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