To celebrate the winners of this year’s Seed Award, we caught up with all the selected artists and composers for a quick chat.

Here, we speak to t l k, the project of Bristol based artist Tara Lily Klein.

Can you tell us about your musical influences?

Early influences include classical, choral and chamber harmony, followed by the alternative songwriting and genre-melding production of James Blake, Bon Iver, and FKA Twigs. The sound worlds of Floating Points, Bonobo, Caribou, Four Tet, Aphex Twin, Jon Hopkins, Radiohead and Rival Consoles, to name a few, proved formative in my wider appreciation of the role of intricate sound design within expansive sonic experiences, as well as the breadth of possibility within live arrangement and instrumentation of electronic music. The vocal ornamentals and flamenco harmony of Sílvia Pérez Cruz have also been hugely influential in my relationship with the human voice. Bristol’s largely independent improvisation scene, with its ever-morphing blend of experimental electronic, ambient, jazz, dance music and revolution sounds, as well as the cross-pollination of art forms, continues to form the most tangible and ongoing influence in my evolving sound and practices.

What are you working on at the moment?

Following the release of debut EP Strength In Tenderness in early 2022, I’m currently producing the next EP, as well as various stand alone tracks with their own thematic identities. These different projects explore a broad palette of sounds, ranging from orchestral-electronic writings to more experimental dance tracks that have grown in a more production-led way. The new material is rooted in evolving understandings of loss, trauma, identity, protest and community, and has been greatly informed by this past year of translating my recorded sounds to live music environments with cherished collaborating musicians, visual artists, dancers and more.