I asked Lookman to describe himself and his music in five words, as I’m sure there will be at least one person reading this who is becoming acquainted for the first time. He was speedy in his reply as if he’d been asked before, his answer was “lyrically centred genre non-specific music”. Despite the lack of specificity regarding what genre Lookman fits into, he pinpointed folk and post-modern blues as the most fitting terms to describe his music. His journey to arriving at this descriptive destination is one centred around creativity, “I have always written poetry since I can remember, and drawing was my first art form, but filmmaking was the thing I wanted to do,” explains Lookman, “Film making encompasses all the pivotal art forms, writing, photography, music, fine art,” he concludes. However, as I’m sure you’ve established, this interview is not with a filmmaker but with a renowned musician, so how did this come to be? 

“I loved music, I listened to it a lot but never played. There was always an overwhelming desire to express but it never overtook the love for filmmaking.” Lookman’s first flirtations with the medium came in one fateful summer when he was twelve. He was living with his foster parents in Kent and his foster brother had been gifted a guitar which was not a gift he showed particular interest in. Lookman on the other hand spent the summer learning guitar, and if you think this is a story of a skill crafted from such a young age I have bad news. Lookman would not touch a guitar again for nearly a decade, but more on that shortly. That fateful summer was also when Lookman was introduced to Bob Dylan, whom he credits as one of his most influential influences. “I’d loved folk and blues my whole life, but there was a particular way that he was talking, I found the poetry of it so beautiful and at 13 I fell in love with Bob Dylan.” Lookman goes on to further describe his views on folk and blues music by saying “Personally to me if you strip away all the bells and whistles of music to its core bones, you have folk or blues music.”

As I mentioned, Lookman wouldn’t touch another guitar for nearly a decade, when he was 21 a friend gifted him a guitar. At this point, he was pursuing a career in filmmaking, whilst writing and performing poetry. Funnily enough, the guitar remained untouched for another year before Lookman started to combine his poetry with the melodic strumming of his not-so-new guitar. Four EPs and four studio albums later, the rest, as they say, is history. Since his debut project, Lookman has boasted a range of impressive accolades including collaborating with Burberry on numerous occasions and being featured as one of Esquire Magazine's “Top Ten Most Stylish Men In Music”. I asked Lookman about some of the obstacles and hurdles he’d faced in his career and he quipped that “in life and business you’re gonna face obstacles and that just is what it is, but the main obstacle and hurdle you’ll face in your career is yourself.”

An overarching theme in my conversation with Lookman was storytelling, and I was desperate to delve deeper into his ideas and discover some of his idols and inspirations. When asked about the importance of poetry and storytelling, Lookman explained that “Our prime language is storytelling everything in between is what’s within storytelling. Our whole world structure is built on stories, our whole moral landscape is built on stories.” We as humans crave stories because it is through the lived or fictional experiences of others that we are able to make a slither of sense of our jumbled lives. Without stories, life would be like trying to build Ikea furniture without instructions, confusing and frustrating. A captivating story is not an easy thing to tell, and some are noticeably better than others. Three names came up frequently in my discussion with Lookman, the first I’ve touched upon in Bob Dylan and the next’s tales take place in a galaxy far away.