Kae Tempest on coming out as non-binary, and having Grian Chatten on their new album

 That isn’t to say living a private life in public doesn’t become stressful occasionally. Tempest, from Lewisham in London, is a heralded performer, with two Mercury Music Prize nominations and a series of acclaimed records, including 2019’s the Book of Traps and Lessons (co-produced by Beastie Boys/Johnny Cash collaborator Rick Rubin). Still, being in the public eye doesn’t necessarily make it easier to share deeply private aspects of your life and identity.

“It doesn’t feel great if you’re having a 20-minute conversation with somebody and the first thing that you’ve got to talk about is something that’s deeply personal,” says Tempest. “At the same time, on the flip side of that, there may be some person struggling with their gender, who discovers you. Who hears you on the radio. And for them that might be a crucial moment in feeling less alone. I know that I’ve had that experience with other people in the trans community, and I’m really so grateful for that. Then it’s about humbling yourself.” 

Tempest is about to release their fifth album, their first as Kae. Recorded with Fontaines DC producer Dan Carey – and with Rick Rubin as executive producer – The Line Is A Curve is a hugely moving onslaught of hope and fear, angst and joy, ferocity and abandon.

Setting slam poetry to electronic beats, the project unfolds in a tumult of breathless, heartfelt imagery. Vocals were laid down in a single 45-minute take – a marathon feat even for a veteran of the performance poetry circuit.

“I can’t do cool rock’n’roll singer. I can’t do cool rap phenomenon. I can’t do those things,” Tempest says. “When I’m in the booth, what is it I can do? I can go deeply into a 45 minute-long poem. And I can feel the cumulative power, almost enter this other world. And that is the thing I’ve learned how to do.” 

To try to do something else – to be an “entertainer” – would be to lose sight of what makes them unique in the first place, Tempest feels.

“When it comes to the time to record, if I split myself off from that and try to ‘hammer the flow’ or get something really cool down in the intonation, then it’s at odds with the pinnacle of my creative expressiveness. It’s like a marathon in some ways. It’s the thing I do best. Going deeply into a take. And knowing that, when I say the first word, I’ve got 45 minutes to get out of this take. It puts me into a more deeply felt place. And I enjoy that.”

 On previous records, and on their several published volumes of poetry, Tempest has grappled with mental health, their homeland’s class system and what it means to be British and English in the era of Brexit. The Line Is A Curve is more expansive in that it sets out to diagnose the human condition. The track More Pressure is, for instance, about putting too much strain on yourself and the freedom that comes with accepting the world as you find it. 

But there are also songs such as Salt Coast, which circles back around to the shifting idea of Britishness and Englishness in the strange new world in which we find ourselves. “It’s a love song to Britain. It’s a complicated place to call home but it’s home. I love the land. I love the landscape. I love the people. I’m a Londoner, so that’s one identity. I’m also from England. I’m also British. Within all of those identities, there are different complexities that come along with the territory. My heart is so full of all of those places.

“I think that the personification in Salt Coast of Britain as this girl. Every girl I’ve ever known, loved… I associate with that kind of Britishness. That’s what I understand, when I think of home. Of England. That’s the dirt. ‘Scraping the gravel in your air max/So beautiful, so chaotic, so grounded.’ 

“I wanted to be really specific and precise about what home meant to me. Often declarations of national pride deal in very big cliches. It doesn’t resonate with me.”

 The Line Is A Curve features Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC, whom Kae got to know via Carey – a collaborator with Fontaines on all their records. Chatten has a lead vocal on two songs and contributes backing elsewhere on the project.

“I recognise his poet’s soul,” Tempest says of the Dubliner. “And it sings to me. I’ve been so moved by Grian’s poetry since I first heard the music they were making, when Fontaines were working with Dan Carey. Dan was in Dublin with Fontaines and phoned me up. And was like, ‘you have to hear this guy. You have to meet Grian’. I’ve been lucky enough to share in their journey because of Dan. Hear their albums. See them play live. See them in tiny places. And recently, at Alexandra Palace in London. A huge show. And I feel so grateful Grian was up for coming down to the studio and putting that verse down. That’s his voice throughout the album. He’s got a beautiful voice. I love Fontaines. I think they’re one of the most important bands of the time.” 

With our time running out, the conversation circle back around to trans rights. Britain is in many ways a country at a crossroads when it comes to the public discussion of gender fluidity. Trans people have never been more visible. And yet there has also claims that gender and sex are not mutually exclusive, with public figures such as JK Rowling expressing the concern women are being erased. On social media, in particular, the debate has become a bit of a conflagration. Does Tempest feel Britain is a welcoming country for the trans community?

“What I can say is that quite often, it’s not trans people, non-binary people, that are having their voices heard in conversations that are most loudly felt in the media. Quite often, whenever I hear about transness or gender identity that is outside of the binary, it’s coming from this place of like deep fear. Or deep unease. Or worry about an agenda or something that’s really at odds with my experience, in my life, of family and community. I have real love in my heart for people. I don’t want to have a conversation that’s really combative.” 

• The Line Is A Curve is released April 8. Kae Tempest play Rosin Dubh, Galway, April 30; Cyprus Avenue, Cork, May 1; Vicar Street, Dublin, May 4