Roots of Tea Notes.
by David Edren, from an original interview for Roots Of Tea #1
a magazine by Chagee, Guangzhou China
published May 2026
↩︎ Listen to Tea Notes
by Jatinder Singh Durhailay and David Edren
Why did you decide to make “tea” the central theme of this album? What was the initial creative inspiration?
I first met Jatinder in 2017 through mutual friends when he and Johanna (Tagada Hoffbeck) were visiting Antwerp. We got along immediately. While talking about music he told me he liked this conceptual album that was written for this sensitive plant called Mimosa Pudica. To my surprise he was talking about my own album unknowing it was me who made it. After this we felt a connection and talked about collaborating in the future. We met again a few days later and while enjoying tea and snacks we improvised some music together. We kept in touch and talked about how we could produce a possible music album. As time progressed we worked on music; emailing parts back and forth between Antwerp and London. The concept came to mind of connecting each song with a specific type of tea; like people connecting while drinking tea; thinking about how different persons or situations might connect with these specific infusions. After all it was TEA that brought us together in the first place.
What similarities do you see between tea and music?
I’m not sure if i would describe it as similarities between tea and music, but for us, like i mentioned before, the act of drinking tea or spending some calm time together drinking it acted as a catalyst for our artistic creative process in a conceptual way.
Each track on this album is named after a type of tea. How did you use music to represent the characteristics of these different teas?
The tracks each offered a specific sound characteristic and after finishing I connected these to a specific type of tea once our concept came to mind. For instance; ‘Pu-Ehr’ is a dark, rich, almost mystical tea that somehow got mirrored in the dark bubbling oriental vibe of that specific track. The same goes for the playful and much lighter ‘Shincha’; a green and youthful tea. ‘Kava’ on the other hand is more reminiscent of the dreamy and intoxicating Kava Kava root infusion compared to ‘Tulsi’ that has more of a meditative vibe..
When arranging the duration and sequence of the tracks, did you incorporate the rhythm of a tea-tasting experience, or any other tea-related elements?
Not really. Each track originated unconnected to the concept of tea we later linked it with. I find that often concepts materialize only after completing or bringing together parts of the whole. It is then that the broader picture emerges and can lead to the most fitting thematic or linguistic concept linking music with emotion.But the nice thing is that after the album was finished and we were thinking about how to present it to a live audience; we decided we wanted to incorporate the experience of tea tasting and the idea of enjoying a cup of tea ‘together’ but here in the form of a communal gathering. It happened at creative hotspot Het Bos in Antwerp while my partner (ceramic artist) Sigrid Volders and artist Narelle Dore were coincidentally hosting their ‘Tea’ themed art residency in April 2018. Sigrid designed really nice Teapots and cups that were exhibited and later used during a Tea gathering and tasting event. Our live performance, that was actually the very first time we performed together in front of an audience, turned out quite magical!
In November 2019 we organized another event, in collaboration with the label Ekster, for the re-release of our album on vinyl. It was presented during an exclusive concert in an incredible setting at Maison Guiette, a house designed by the renowned architect Le Corbusier. At the event we served a few tea varieties related to our album (Tulsi, Shincha, Pu-Ehr,..) again in newly designed cups by Sigrid. It grew out to be a heartwarming and very special experience.
David Edren, February 2026