High Pitched and Moist: An Interview with Tami T
by Katy Jalili
If like me you’re a massive Tami T fan, you’d know how exciting it felt to find out she was finally dropping her first album. Many queer people that I know of for the last couple years have loved, partied and cried to Tami T’s music, even incorporated it in their art. Tami has a truly unique voice in music, her bold lyrics and extraordinary music makes you travel to a very specific moments and feelings you didn’t think there would ever be music that could describe it, like being eaten out whilst on your period! Her new album High Pitched and Moist is a true queer femme anthem, full of queer solidarity, and beautiful trans narratives, I was so excited to interview her for FEM Zine and ask her all about it.
Katy: After releasing so many amazing singles and EP's, how does it feel to finally have an album out?
Tami: Sooo exciting! It is the biggest thing I have ever done and it has taken up so much of my time and concentration the last years, I'm so happy to finally share it.
K: I love the name High Pitched and Moist, could you tell us more about that?
T: Coming up with an album title was much harder than I anticipated, I had a long list with suggestions I had written down during a year but they were all truly terrible suggestions. Naming a song is easy since you have the lyrics you can refer to, but to give a full album a name was something completely different. I wanted a name that captured the feeling I have for the album and fortunately I had one person whose opinion I trust and together we scratched all my terrible suggestions and together came up with the album title. Then it just felt so right.
K:I have always loved your singing voice, it's amazing and I see it as a commentary on performing femininity, and a commentary on trans ness and the idea of "cis-passing", but I'm really interested to know your view and inspirations behind it?
T: More than a comment on performing femininity it is the actual need for me to perform femininity. I always felt very disconnected to my voice but by pitching it up one octave and auto tuning it, it became a voice I could identify with and an instrument I wanted to work with. Before experimenting with those effects, I never sang and the fact that I'm a singer now is almost laughable. Without autotune I can't hit a single note!
K: The song that particularly spoke to me was "Stay Where You Are", especially the line where you're stating that abuse doesn't just happen in straight relationships, what is the importance of this message getting across to your listeners for you?
T: Since we're mostly exposed to only one narrative of what violence in a relationship looks like, with a cis man abusing a cis woman, it can maybe make it hard for us to recognize and to deal with abuse when it doesn't follow those conventional power dynamics. There was a time when I very naively thought that abuse was not as prevalent in same sex/queer relationships, but unfortunately that is not my belief anymore. I think it's important we are aware of this.
K: I also love your song Trans Femme Bonding, it's such a great statement and also describes the feeling of the whole album, full of femme solidarity and a true trans anthem, how does it feel to be making music that is so relatable for your community as I can imagine it feeling like a lot?
T: When someone tells me that my music means something to them, it is very hard to take in. My process of making music is so personal and solitary and I often forget that people actually listen to it and form their own relation to my songs and lyrics. But I'm of course very happy when people find my songs relatable, and maybe especially with this song since it is about "sisterhood" and how much so many trans femmes have meant for me. Then it feels like I somehow can pass that feeling on.
K: You recently DJed at my night Femmi-Errect at Dalston Superstore, and our audience loved you! What was that experience like for you?
T: Super fun! That party was amazing! But I also decided it was my last DJ gig ever, I think I much more prefer performing my own songs live instead. I also get so nervous about playing songs other people have made, I have no idea who they are and what they stand for! Especially since I love mainstream EDM, like who are these dudes I play?
K: And lastly, what's next for you?
T: Now I'm going to focus a lot on some big changes I want to make to my live show, have some ideas I've been wanting to incorporate but haven't had time for until now.
High Pitched and Moist is now available to purchase on iTunes.
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