Sean Focus: The GRDN Sessions
Zimbabwean born Edinburgh based artist Sean Focus launches The GRDN Sessions: a new live series celebrating some of the most exciting names in Scottish music. Showcasing five artists from cities across Scotland, The GRDN Sessions is an intimate project inspired by Sean’s videos filmed in his garden during lockdown.
Laying down a compelling blend of afro-pop, hip-hop and dancehall, Sean has been championed by BBC 1Xtra, Apple Music Radio, Capital Xtra & BBC Introducing with tastemakers DJ Target, Kenny Allstar & Charlie Sloth also supporting his releases.
When live shows were paused back in 2020, Sean took matters into his own hands filming and sharing performances from his garden as a way of connecting with his fans. Building on the success of this, The GRDN Sessions sees him collaborate with his agent Emma Picken as they curate this series of raw sessions designed to showcase the best in up and coming talent from across the country.
The sessions are being hosted on Sean’s label Imvaize Music Group’s YouTube channel, launching with Aberdeen’s Gidd Gamz. His 2019 debut album ‘Mind Over Manor’ demonstrated raw, razor sharp delivery and he’s since garnered a consistent and dedicated following in the Granite city and beyond supporting Skepta, Ghost Face Killa and J Hus. Now, fans are invited into his own world with the first instalment of The GRDN Sessions available to stream now.
Hailed by BBC Introducing as ‘the girlband Scotland’s long been overdue’, R&B-pop four-piece 4TUNE will take us to member Tamara’s Livingston garden. Their singles Don’t Approach Me and Petty released last year on Sean’s label confidently outlined the group’s multifaceted sound.
From Livingston to Dundee with singer-songwriter James Liandu. As a busker in the city for five years, James immersed himself in experimenting freely with a range of genres from afro-house to acoustic. All about making music that makes you feel, he has also just dropped his new single Voyage.
Freshly crowned as BBC Introducing’s inaugural ‘Scottish Act of the Year’ Bemz steps up for the fourth instalment on 23rd June in Glasgow. Championed by the likes of Radio 1’s Gemma Bradley and Radio 1Xtra his sound stands out for being strikingly honest and unrestrained. Last year he dropped his highly anticipated second EP M4 and has since embarked on a UK-wide tour supporting The Snuts and last month played his biggest show to date - a sold out headline at King Tut’s.
The GRDN Sessions makes its final stop in Edinburgh with Sean Focus on 30th June. With performances as energy-filled as his music, Sean connects the dots between his heritage and his new home to create an international sound inspired by his life across continents. Earlier this year he was invited to Abbey Road Studios by the BBC and Micah Brown to test the cutting edge technology BrainRap before releasing his fresh new track Bla Bla with DIzZY VC in March. Since then he’s going onto launch his monthly Amo Afro Scotland event series at 4042 that champions Amapiano music and has his debut performance at Mzansi Festival coming up this month.
Speaking on The GRDN Sessions, Sean Focus said: “Originally the sessions started because I wanted to showcase the music that people missed from my project, the weather looked nice so I went to my garden and thought let’s just film the music, live and raw. The GRDN Sessions are a testimony that if you present your music to the world in a way you feel comfortable, they will receive it in a way they feel comfortable. I’m happy to bring along other artists now to this project, some that I feel people overlook and that is what Imvaize stands for.”
Emma Picken, Project Producer, said: “Producing the project has been a really fun one. It’s great to work with such a range of artists across Scotland, each with their own style and genre. We’ve got a brilliant mix and balance of sounds in there, and all the artists featured on the project were excited to be involved which is fantastic. It's always good to see artists collaborating together to promote themselves and the Scottish scene as a whole and great to have the support and backing from Creative Scotland for this work.”
To celebrate last month’s announcement, the artists were featured on a billboard by Murrayfield Stadium.
The GRDN Sessions are directed by Graham Glover (Grove Creative Media) and supported by funding from Creative Scotland.
