Bop your head – This is Grande Mahogany’s kaleidoscopic funk
Grande Mahogany’s album "As Grande As", released last year, has become a slowly growing cult favourite. For a 2020s record, As Grande As is a dizzying combination of stream-of-consciousness elements from pop history, reinvented guitar-driven 1970s sounds, crushingly psychedelic funk and the playful upending of sample culture.
Something new, something borrowed… When hearing As Grande As for the first time, contemporary indie people and classic rock listeners are both struck by the guitar sound in particular. Where have I heard this before? Still, it’s something completely original, an alternative history and hauntology that pushes the boundaries of the instrument while staying rooted in traditional funk hooks.
Mahogany says he taught himself to play during a six-year stint in Manchester. On his return to Finland, the idea of making his own EP took hold – and his debut appeared in 2019.
“My main instrument is still the guitar,” he says.
“I’m always thinking about how to say things in a new way and use the instrument creatively. I’m still the least experienced musician in our live band, but I’m constantly trying to improve. Singing has also always been at the core of my music-making, but I’ve only recently started to feel confident about it.”
“I’m always thinking about how to say things in a new way and use guitar creatively."
Mahogany had a clear vision of how he wanted his first full-length album to sound. He played all the instruments himself, except the drums. Many listeners assume that the drums or guitars on some songs are samples – and a few are – but in the song “SUPER ROCKER,” for example, he performs everything except the spoken-word sample. The instruments have been mixed to mimic the sample’s sound profile.
With As Grande As, he aimed to try out every idea he could come up with. He honed the songs carefully over a couple of years rather than recording them all once. Along the way, Mahogany learned a lot about recording and mixing while collaborating with his friend and bandmate A. Halonen, without whom the album could never have happened.
Grande Mahogany: SUPER ROCKER (Dir. German Raudanen, 2024)
Recognisability spawns innovation
“My parents moved from Ghana to Finland in the 1990s. My two sisters have played piano and violin since they were little, so it was natural that I’d get my hands on a guitar soon,” he says.
“My sisters have really been trailblazers – I have them to thank for my taste in music. I found all the most interesting stuff through them. For the album, I wanted to bring in influences from what I’d heard up to that point, combining the past with the contemporary world.”
As a reference point for the album, Mahogany spent a lot of time listening to Todd Rundgren’s 1973 A Wizard, a True Star. He says that he identifies with both contemporary left-field artists such as Dean Blunt and earlier, somewhat overlooked, ones, such as Shuggie Otis. He listened to a lot of Funkadelic while making the album, too, and was also particularly impressed by Solange’s 2016 A Seat at the Table.
“I was inspired that kind of song development that sounds sort of unfinished. I wanted to leave some things open. I always want to listen to an album from start to finish, because a single doesn’t tell you enough about the artist.”
I always want to listen to an album from start to finish, because a single doesn’t tell you enough about the artist.
He describes his debut album as a compilation, though. The songs are examples of his work that are tied together with looser tracks and interludes.
“The next album could be something else. I might not put so many different elements into each song, or build the songs better. It’s all started to feel a little too hectic, though it’s been great to see that people like this kind of chaos. But I want to keep focusing on complete albums and crossbreed as many different musical worlds as possible.”
So Mahogany’s future sound might be more mature, but still recognisable. He says that his upcoming music probably won’t just rely solely on rock guitar and ‘70s vibes. He’s interested in singing lessons and experimenting with different technologies.
“My lyrics are also changing all the time. On the last album they were attitude – ‘here I am’ – and playing around with the narrator’s conflicts and emotions. Now I want to talk more about this time and experiences with it.”
Grande Mahogany: Spaceboy Pinkhead (2024)
‘WTF moments’ are the best
Mahogany is pleased with how last summer’s tour with his live band went, with the group getting into high gear onstage. Audiences heard about the gigs through word of mouth, and the reception became more and more enthusiastic. In addition to serious music fans, younger people also started showing up in the crowds, often amazed at what was happening on stage.
“Those ‘WTF moments’ are the best – moments when the audience might not be dancing or even moving, but when you can see on their faces that they’re experiencing something new that’s striking deep. For instance, I think some people who’ve been kind of alienated by rock have gotten a lot more out of what we’re doing than they thought they would.”
If you look at what gets released and what ends up on playlists nowadays, there could be a lot more boundary-breaking music.
There should be more of these moments of surprise in music releases and live performances, he says.
“If you look at what gets released and what ends up on playlists nowadays, there could be a lot more boundary-breaking music. The mainstream would get used to that sound too. Instead there’s still a lot of prejudice and going with the safe, easy choices.”
And there’s another factor that often gets mentioned in regard to Finnish artists: “We really do a lot of cool things, but on the other hand, people are shy and don’t know how to really put themselves out there.”
For Mahogany and his live band, though, that’s certainly not a problem.
Grande Mahogany: Angle of the Dangle (Dir. Trang Chung, 2024)