Native Tongue signs young electronic producer Kuren

Emerging electronic producer Kuren – Curtis Kennedy on his passport – has inked a deal with Native Tongue ahead of the release of his debut album Melting Conceptually – set to drop on June 29 via ONETWO.

The young, self-taught producer collaborated with Illy, Ivan Ooze, Sydnee Carter, Austen, Sam Phay, Twerl and Kat Vinter on the album.

“For the longest time my music was all based around myself,” Kennedy shared with TMN. “My Kuren project is my story and it took some time to really open that personal experience up to outside influences.

“My first experiences with this process came through a publisher and it literally changed my career. Matt [Tanner], Jaime [Gough] and Cecil [Coleman] have been amazing to get to know and opened the doors to some great collaborators that now feature on my album.

“By making this all official I now get to link with even more artists who are on their own journeys and I’m pumped to see what opportunites are out there.”

A descendant of the Wiradjuri people, he works closely alongside the Indigenous community on projects such as SBS’s Walkley Award-winning interactive animation My Grandmother’s Lingo, for which he composed the music in 2016.

Most recently he contributed to Urban Theatre Projects’ BLACK BOX art installation in Barangaroo, which opens on June 2 and will run until June 24.

Native Tongue’s head of creative services, Matt Tanner, added: “When I first came across Kuren I was equally fascinated with his story as I was the music he was making.

“Fast-forward 18 months and Kuren has made a killer debut record.

“We’re proud to be working with Kuren and his team, and we think he is just getting started!”

Kuren was Unearthed’s NIMA winner in 2016, and was a finalist for the J Away Unearthed Artist of the Year that same year.

His manager Sam Korotkov said: “When I first started working with Curtis, I was blown away by the diverse range of sounds and ideas he had in the bank.

“I knew there was an incredible opportunity for him not only as a solo artist, but he has so much to offer to others.

“Matt has one of the best ears in the business and I know he and the rest of the NT team will bring an incredible amount of opportunity to the table.”