Tamino is getting ready to release his third studio album, Every Dawn’s A Mountain. The musician — who is the grandson of Egyptian singer and movie star Muharram Fouad — has shared the singles "Babylon" and "Dissolve" so far, and now he's back with "Sanctuary," a duet with Mitski.
"Two weeks before our scheduled studio session, I had doubts about whether the current song was suitable enough for a duet," Tamino explains, continuing:
I teamed up with my friend Alessandro Buccellati (SZA, Arlo Parks) at my place in New York City, where, in the wake of my doubts, we wrote the music of "Sanctuary" in a few hours. The next morning I wrote the lyrics, recorded a small demo, and sent it to Mitski, who loved it and, like me, preferred it to the other song. I asked her if she thought changes in the lyrics were necessary, but she liked it as it was. Two weeks later she came to the studio, where she wrote beautiful harmonies and recorded her part in half a day.
I usually write in solitude and only let other people in much later in the process when the songs already have a form. Collaborating with Alessandro has been a revelation in the sense that for the first time I feel like songwriting as a duo results in songs that I feel are worth releasing. On this album, "Sanctuary" is the only track fully birthed from this working dynamic. It’s also the final addition to the record. These things, combined with the fact that the song features a second voice on what is otherwise a very personal record, make the track a bit of an outlier. Still, it feels like an essential track on this album. I won’t analyze it here, but suffice it to say that I can’t imagine this record without it. Apart from that, it’s also a pinch me moment every time I hear Mitski’s voice soaring over "Sanctuary," especially when I think back to my time in Amsterdam where it soared over many days.
The chemistry is obvious on "Sanctuary"; Tamino and Mitski's voices coalesce naturally and sublimely. Listen below.
Every Dawn’s A Mountain is out 3/21 via erēmia/Communion. Pre-order it here.
