Tamino’s New Record Is A Turning Point — EXCLUSIVE

In New York City, the unofficial policy regarding interacting with notable people is “Mind your own business.” But Tamino — who wrote most of his upcoming record Every Dawn’s a Mountain after moving to downtown Manhattan a year ago — tells NYLON he’s still able to enjoy a level of inconspicuousness. “In the couple of occasions that somebody has come up to me here, it was always just one person talking to the other in a very equal way,” says the 27-year-old Belgian Egyptian artist. “At the same time, I am saying all this knowing that, in Europe, there are some places where I’m really known. So there’s the anonymity the city offers [and] just the fact that I’m not as known here that allows me to feel very free.”

That peace might be short-lived, however, given his pivotal new album, which features Mitski on a track titled “Sanctuary” and embarks on what can be described as a world tour of loss, letting go — and growth. (The troubadour imagery is compounded by the fact that Every Dawn’s a Mountain was recorded in the converted New Orleans church producer Eric Heigle works out of, a studio in Brussels, and various hotel rooms, according to a news release.)

Ahead, in his first interview about the project, out March 2025, Tamino talks exclusively with NYLON about how EDAM is a turning point personally and professionally, being an “underrated” musician, and what it’s like receiving no notes from Mitski on his lyrics.

What’s one thing you’re taking away with you after making this record?

Before I moved to New York, a lot had changed in my life, and I needed a fresh start. It was a very big change that came with its own set of struggles. Most of the songs were written within the time that I moved to New York and in the months after. But a couple of songs were written right before and had a prophetic quality to them, which I learned after the fact. Heigle and I had an amazing session in New York before I lived here. I was just visiting them, but then we picked up our work together in New Orleans. I flew over last November, and that was the first proper session of this record. There was really a sort of a fire burning with this record, a sort of urgency I hadn’t felt in a while. I really just needed to make this record, and it needed to get out.

What were the driving forces behind those feelings?

I guess mostly loss. Loss in all its forms and what that does to your sense of who you are, how to place yourself in the world, and how to find your direction. And when everything before that moment had a different direction. I guess it’s a turning-point kind of album because my life was very much like that.

Creative people are always after inspiration, but not many of us can find it. Have you ever felt anything similar before?

My first album came from a strong desire to communicate with the world. The older I get and the more I know myself, the more I realize that a lot of my musical pursuits come from an inability to communicate or an inability to communicate in more of a direct way. So that’s why I escape into the world of music and an abstract, sort of metaphysical realm, because that’s where I feel I can really express who I am. It’s been a long journey to know how to be more present in the real world and be a real boy and have genuine connections. It was almost like a survival tactic. There was an obsessive quality to it where I would pretty much only do that. I would only make music and be quite reclusive, and that has changed. My feet are in the world right now. I am very much taking part in life, but this time, the urgency came from lived experience and having to process that.

Going back to how this is a turning-point album for you, how do you feel like you’ve changed as an artist?

It’s funny you ask that because the whole process of moving here, the album, everything has been a real growing-up process, a real demand of maturity. I feel like also I have the age for it — I turn 28 this month. I feel like there’s a reason why so many artists tragically don’t get past this age: because it requires change. I’m still fully in the process of this — and it will probably be a long process — but I hope that as an artist, I became more mature, independent, and strong in my decisions and also faithful in whoever I’m involving. And when I work with these people, still standing by my gut, even though I am listening to their opinions as well; I really hope I became more centered.

Speaking of trusting your collaborators, what was it like working with Mitski?

Oh, that was great. Very, very natural. Of course it helped that we went on tour together. A couple months before that, I think she was listening to my music, which was a tremendous honor for me because I’ve been a fan for a long time. And she reached out like “Hey, if you have got any songs lying around, I would love to sing with you.” Months later, I sent her a song, but this was before we were about to go on tour and she was rehearsing, so there wasn’t really space for that. But then once we both had some time to get into creative mode again, she was like, “I think it’s a good song. Let’s work on it.” In the end, I wrote another song two weeks before we were supposed to record together because, suddenly, I felt like there was another song waiting. And I sent that to her, and she was like, “Yes, this is the one.” And that’s “Sanctuary.”

And she co-wrote the song, right?

Yeah. Not the lyrics, but she co-wrote the harmonies and her melody. I was self-conscious about the lyrics. Mitski is a great writer, and I’m not a native English speaker, so I was like, “Please tell me if you’re not feeling any of these lines. I’m so open to changing it.” But she liked it. That was very cool. I was honored by her just liking it the way it was.

Once we both had some time to get into creative mode again, Mitski was like, “I think it’s a good song. Let’s work on it.”

Looking at the album notes and how many places you worked on it, there’s a nomadic feeling. What was it like of moving from place to place while working on this one thing?

I think it was very much in tune with what my life looked like and what my life looks like now. It is so destabilized, or maybe decentered, that it made sense to evoke that feeling while recording as well. I had my doubts about recording in Belgium because I’ve recorded a lot with my Belgian band in a studio we’d worked in before. I wasn't sure that feeling would be present; it might’ve been a bit too comfortable, in a sense. But the good thing was that, to my surprise, after having spent so many months in New York, going back to Belgium was quite destabilizing.

And now that you’ve lived in New York for a year, are there places here that feel like home to you?

The first time I was here was only for two days for a Missoni photo shoot right before my 22nd birthday. I turned 22 in the city, and then I was like, “Wow.” In a way, it’s like a home for the homeless — here, when you have a sort of an ambiguous or mixed background and you have a weird job or, in my case, a job that requires you to travel so much, it’s a very embracing city for that. It really embraces people who have a life that isn’t conventional. And it almost creates the space for your real self to come to the surface.

Because you mentioned how the city is so many people existing together, have you had any fan interactions? We’re pretty good about leaving people alone, I have to say.

I’ve had a couple of fan interactions on streets or at events, and they’ve always been so pleasant. I feel like when I’m approached, there’s this feeling of “we’re all in this together.” But it’s also maybe because I come from Belgium, which has a very reserved culture. So for somebody to come up to you and say something is very rare, unless they’re drunk, then that can start going crazy. But usually they won’t say anything, but they will make you feel it. It will be in the air in all the other ways except the direct way. And that actually takes more energy from me than when somebody approaches me directly, like an actual conversation.

New York City really embraces people who have a life that isn’t conventional.

That brings me to the next thing, which is how some of your fans refer to you as an underrated artist, at least in the United States. How do you feel about being seen as someone who maybe should be more recognized?

I think there’s a tremendous beauty in something you can discover. When people are allowed to discover things themselves, it activates their own curiosity and willingness to dig deeper into an artist or whatever it is. And I think it establishes a stronger connection. I felt that. I feel it at my concerts. I see it sometimes in online stuff. I feel that there’s a community around it. And it’s because it’s more valuable when you feel like you chose to be part of that. To give an example, in Belgium, I was played on national radio with this very slow and long song. It definitely helped a lot of people know me there, but also it generated a lot of hate because people who are in a work environment where the radio is on all day, they would have to suffer through this depressing song of mine five times a day. And so it’s probably the only country where if you mention me, there will either be a very positive or very negative reaction because they feel like it’s been force-fed to them.

But I’m very, very grateful for where I am right now and for the people already paying attention and for the life I’m living. My ambitions are partly commercial ambitions but mostly creative. Those creative ambitions go beyond anything else.

We’ve talked a lot about maturity. Ahead of your birthday, what are you thinking about in terms of your self-discovery? What do you hope to learn about yourself in your next year as a human?

Honestly, probably the whole “finding my center” kind of thing is really a big theme right now, and I really want to develop that further because the world has become bigger for me — bigger and smaller at the same time. I feel the importance of having a strong center way, way more now because it’s easy to get lost. Creatively speaking, I don’t want to complain because I know touring is a wonderful thing I’m able to do, but it is challenging to keep that center and also to be creative. And I do hope that I can promote this album without it taking up all my energy. I think that has much more to do with my attitude and my personal work than with context. That’s what I realized, and I want to be very mindful of that.