Taking Soft Steps: mau from nowhere Talks About Patience and Growth

Kenyan-British artist mau from nowhere just released SOFT STEPS. The EP is a testament to mau’s ability to merge hip-hop, alternative Afro-fusion, R&B, and electronic soundscapes. Each track has a deeply personal narrative, as mau reflects on his past, his influences, and the cities that have shaped his artistic identity. Rather than sticking to one genre or sound, mau has chosen to let his music be shaped by his experiences and his roots. This authenticity and fluidity have garnered him attention not only as a musician but as a voice challenging conventional genre expectations. From its introspective lyrics to its genre-defying sound, SOFT STEPS, invites listeners to witness the evolution of an artist who has never been afraid to push musical boundaries.

Collaborations play a significant role in, SOFT STEPS, and mau’s approach to working with other artists highlights his openness to different sounds and perspectives. By transcending genre limitations, mau’s collaborators enrich the EP with layers of influence that feel fresh and diverse. His willingness to explore unfamiliar territory in his music is matched by his dedication to crafting a sound that remains true to his roots, even as it evolves. In this conversation, mau from nowhere delves into how his creative journey has evolved from raw, rap-centric introspection to a more complex melodic style that allows him to tell stories with patience and intention.

Trust the Process

Danielle Holian: Your new EP SOFT STEPS is an ode to patience and growth. How have these themes influenced the songwriting and production process?

mau from nowhere: I think patience and growth are representative of how the process took place. In the past, the way I would make songs was very quick.  I often made a beat and recorded it within 3 hours. Contrastingly, a lot of these songs were produced at a time when I was unsure of my next steps creatively. I was just throwing things at the wall, the inspiration wasn’t as immediate, so it took a lot of patience and reflection to hone into the new process and craft this new project. 

You grew up in Nairobi, the UK, and the Netherlands, which must have brought diverse influences into your music. How do these different cultural experiences shape your unique Afro-fusion sound on SOFT STEPS?

While Nairobi and the UK have their own distinct sounds I feel as though they’ve always been hotbeds for afrobeats, especially London being such a huge pocket of the Nigerian and Ghanaian diaspora, so that was a lot of what I heard growing up. I think I only started practicing it more myself when I moved back to Nairobi after university and was now making music with a lot more local artists from Nairobi and Kampala who were exploring different variations of afro-fusion, especially MAUIMØON, featured on track 2, who had me on his song “Sweeta” which really reassured me I was able to explore this sound while still staying true to myself as an artist. 

Your debut album The Universe is Holding You established your signature style, but SOFT STEPS seems to take your music in a new direction. How would you say this EP differs from your previous work, both sonically and thematically?

My debut album was me at my rawest and most fluid, in many ways still discovering myself as a musician and allowing whatever was inside to come out in its weird and natural form. Thematically it was kind of a cluster of emotions I experienced over a 4 year period and so while I do feel like it all fits in that project there’s still some dissonance between the tracks made earlier and those made later. Similarly, the sound was me drawing from purely indie and hip hop roots with a lot of lyrically dense verses and crooning choruses. All in all my approach was (necessarily) a lot more hamfisted as I wasn’t caring so much about crafting a cohesive project as I was just getting all I was feeling in one place. 

SOFT STEPS on the other hand was me very intentionally crafting something led by a style, sound and mood that I wanted to carry throughout. It was a lot harder in many ways to make because I had to focus my energy through that lens and craft the songs in a way that would fit well with each other and carry the central theme as well. It was a huge growth experience for me because it taught me the discipline of carving something out slowly through continued practice, even when I feel unmotivated or uninspired. That practice is what ultimately grew the themes of the project organically as being patience and faith – treading gently rather than seeking to stomp and make a statement. 

Blend of Methods

Collaboration seems to be a key part of your creative process. Can you tell us about some of the key collaborators on this EP and how their contributions helped shape the final sound?

While I’ve had artists feature on tracks vocally and production-wise before, this was the first time I ever completely let go of the reins production-wise with “Fly” & “Restore”. Hihi was someone I met in New York but got to fully connect and work within London. Restore on the other hand was interesting as it was one of the longest songs in the making. I had met Jay James while in Uganda for a show 3 years earlier where we got to work on some songs and as a parting gift he sent me some beats of his we weren’t sure where to place. I was instantly drawn to the Restore beat and how it felt so mesmerizing yet grounded in a highlife sound that felt close to his Ghanaian roots. Once I recorded the demo and sent it to him it also inspired him to add more melodic layers that really brought it to life.

The other collaborations on the project were a blend of these two methods, one being an in-person exchange and the other a more distant sonic correspondence. I was fortunate to have NAiLA and Suté in the studio with me and “By Your Side” came together super organically, while MAUIMØON was another person out of reach. I had tried at least two other featured artists before finally sending the song to him and instantly it clicked and he completely understood how to bring his magic to the “Remind(h)er“, and it felt like a beautiful full-circle moment since he was the first person to bring the afro-fusion sound out of me. 

Between Patience and Urgency

There’s an urgency to your music even though you’ve said that SOFT STEPS is about taking things slowly and patiently. How do you balance urgency and patience?

Honestly, I’m still trying to balance the two energies, both as an artist and a person. I think what made it more difficult in the past was trying to choose one side, either suppressing the urgency for the sake of calm or relying fully on that urgency as the vehicle for my emotions and artistry to communicate. The duality allows me to access the parts of myself that would be more easily hidden for the sake of something easily digestible, and the calm lets me temper my energy to create a more refined end product. I think the growth that this project showcases was only possible through both parts. In my previous album, I was very headstrong in letting the urgency take center stage, often writing and recording quickly and in doing so losing a crucial element of the process that allows ideas to fully develop into thoughtful music. Collaboration has also been a huge part of that because people can be there to help me refine and refocus my energy towards the song as an extension of myself but not something I need to smother and hold with such anxiety and fear. 

You’ve described SOFT STEPS as a project that reflects calm endurance and the ability to forgive yourself. What personal experiences inspired these reflective themes?

Moving to London from Summer 2023-2024 was definitely the hardest thing I’ve done for a number of reasons. Unconsciously I went into it with a lot of lofty expectations of both myself and the place, as well as pressure on myself that I had been carrying since childhood. The harsh reality I was met with permeated throughout my life into my own sense of self and immediate relationships, causing me to do a lot of hard unlearning with grace and forgiveness for the ways in which I’ve carried myself throughout my career. 

Endurance came in the form of seeing the move through to the end of the year. I was exhausted, with much of my time going towards working retail or service jobs and very little going towards what I was actually there to do. I found myself so frustrated by how abundant opportunity there seemed to be around me and how unable I was (feeling incapable at the time) to access it. Despite being fairly self-sufficient as a self-produced and self-managed artist there was a lot of my selfhood and self-worth that I outsourced onto others, seeking validation to allow myself to keep going, to believe in myself, and actually take the space and time needed to focus on my goals and ask for help.

Moving back to Kenya for the tail end of the project allowed me the time and calm to reflect on all I had gone through and find myself again, beyond the noise, pressure and pain. I finally began to learn how crucial it is to allow myself to make mistakes, be selfish with my time and energy, and genuinely tend to my own needs before leaping to help those I care about even if and when they’re deeply struggling. That’s why the last song “My Love” is so important to me, it’s where it all clicked that the love worth fighting for most comes from within; it’s almost an apology to myself, and I’m happy to say I’m finally starting to feel like all has been forgiven. 

Moving Forward

You’ve mentioned stepping confidently into the unknown with this release. What unknowns or challenges have you faced in your musical journey, and how did SOFT STEPS help you navigate them?

I think the most consistent and difficult challenge I’ve faced throughout my career is the inconsistency of support from various people and entities over the years. The first time in particular was moving back to Nairobi during the start of the pandemic where I had my distribution partner dissolve and drop me and my manager also step away in quick succession. Although I knew deep down that it had nothing to do with me I think there was still a lot of work I had to do to learn how to not internalise disappointment / rejection moving forward. To make matters worse, around the same time, another distro had approached me with a lot of enthusiasm about taking my music to new heights and being able to support me in my album release. Ultimately they ghosted me soon after I sent the album and by then I didn’t have a manager so it felt super lonely and difficult to even pick up the project and see it through.

Looking back I’m grateful for the experience as it really taught me that the best support is always from those closest to you, the friends – some of them having nothing to do with music or the arts – who helped me see the project through and kept pushing and encouraging me along the way. It’s a hard truth to learn as an artist that at the end of the day it is just business and while it isn’t impossible to find genuine caring people in these spaces, a lot of the time these larger entities value you based on the attention and buzz you have rather than the merit or authenticity of the work itself.

It’s so important to me not to get jaded or let that reality poison the love and care I navigate the world with or put into my work. I’m proud to say that SOFT STEPS allowed me to let a lot of that past pain go and move forward with a wider awareness but an even bigger heart.

SOFT STEPS is out now via MTJA. Stay in touch with mau from nowhere via Instagram.