| A. K. Paul | |
| Birth Name: | Anup Kumar Paul |
| Origin: | Rayners Lane, London, England |
| Instrument: | Bass, synthesizer, guitar |
| Occupation: | Singer, songwriter, record producer, instrumentalist, bass player, recording engineer |
| Years Active: | 2011-present |
| Label: | Paul Institute |
A. K. Paul (born 1986) is an English singer, songwriter and producer from London. Paul came to prominence in 2011 as a contributor to his brother Jai Paul's debut single "BTSTU (Edit)".[1] The following year he also worked on "Jasmine (demo)" and "Higher Res" with Jai and has since co-written and produced for various artists.
Paul is the recipient of two Ivor Novello Awards, which he received in 2013 for his work on Emeli Sandé's track "Next to Me".[2] [3] [4] [5] In 2016, A. K, Jai and Muz Azar announced Paul Institute, a record label and musical incubator, and its first release was A.K's debut track "Landcruisin'". In 2023, A.K. performed live as a part of Jai's debut performances at Coachella and subsequent tour.[6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
A. K. Paul grew up in Rayners Lane, London, with his younger brother Jai Paul, also an acclaimed producer and songwriter. He is credited as a collaborator on Jai's early singles, and said that when Jai initially sent "BTSTU" to him, it "changed the way" he thought about music.[11] [12]
A. K. Paul was first credited as a co-writer on his brother Jai's debut and second single, which were released in 2011 and 2012. A. K. has worked with numerous artists as a musician, songwriter and producer. These include Nao, Sam Smith, Miguel, Foals, Big Boi, HIRA, Maverick Sabre, Jessie Ware, JONES, Daniel Avery, Wesley Joseph, Reinen, Ruthven and Emeli Sandé.[13] Paul is a multi-instrumentalist and has often contributed bass parts to tracks, alongside production and songwriting credits. One of A. K.'s collaborators, NAO, said of the Paul brothers: "They’ve been sonic pioneers and broken all the rules about how you write, arrange and mix, but not at the expense of musicality. I think most artists working within alternative funk, R&B or indie music have tried to work out how they do it, but it’s not anything you can recreate."[14]
Paul is credited as providing additional vocals and sound design on Jai Paul's demo recording "BTSTU", as well as mastering the track.[15] The demo received widespread blog coverage throughout 2010, leading to significant UK national radio play. In 2011, Jai Paul's record label XL Recordings gave the demo an official release as "BTSTU (Edit)" to favourable reviews.
Paul is credited as providing bass guitar and sound design for Jai Paul's 2012 release, "Jasmine (demo)". He also mastered the track, as with Jai Paul's debut release. "Jasmine (demo)" received critical acclaim in the media, with Pitchfork featuring the song as a "Best New Track"[16] within an hour of its appearance on SoundCloud, The New York Times praising its "Prince era sensuality"[17] and The Guardian describing the production as "amazing".[18] The song appears on the soundtrack to the 2013 video game, Grand Theft Auto V.
Paul collaborated with Hackney vocalist Nao on a song called "So Good". This was the first time Paul applied the moniker A. K. Paul.[19] In November, Miguel posted a photo of himself with A. K. and Jai Paul on Instagram, marking a rare appearance from both artists.[20] Also in November, singer Jones collaborated with A. K. on a song called "You".[21]
A. K. returned with another production credit. This time on Miguel's album Wildheart for the song "Flesh".[22] He also co-wrote three songs on Maverick Sabre's second studio album Innerstanding.
In March 2016, A. K., Jai Paul and Muz Azar announced the Paul Institute, a record label and musical incubator.[23] This was accompanied by the release of the single "Landcruisin'", a song by A. K. Paul, via text messages and a website.[24] "Landcruisin'" was the Paul Institute's first release. The song premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 radio show before receiving digital, streaming, and 7-inch vinyl releases. Most music critics gave the song favorable reviews, comparing it to the works of Prince, D'Angelo, and Miguel. It managed to enter the Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists chart. James Vincent McMorrow reached out to A. K. Paul after listening to "Landcruisin'", calling it "a huge record".[25] James asked Anup to put his own twist on the lead single from We Move, "Rising Water". The result was something extraordinary, James wrote in a statement to Complex. "He said to me after it was done that he's never done something like this before, lifted an entire vocal from an already written and produced song and then flipped the chord structure and premise of the song."[26]
Paul collaborated with Guernsey born DJ Mura Masa with the track "Who Is It Gonna B" on Mura Masa's debut album.[27] A. K. Paul also reached out to British R&B artist HIRA - working on production on the single "Eve" alongside Craze and Hoax.[28] 2017 also saw the introduction of a new A. K. Paul demo track entitled "Be Honest" which was aired on an Apple Beats 1 broadcast of a live Mura Masa performance and DJ set.
After a period of inactivity attributed to a legal fight, Paul released the final version of "Be Honest" in July 2020.[29] He also worked on releases of Paul Institute artists Reinen and Ruthven.
A.K. uploaded a single on SoundCloud called "Cheers Mate" on 12 April 2021, which included a note that said: "additional voices from Reinen, K. Ustinov and 'Ohhh... yeah!' vox was recorded circa 1990, my dad on production."
A.K. was credited as a producer (and additional producer) on four tracks from English rock band Foals' seventh album Life Is Yours, which released on 17 June 2022, via Warner/Transgressive/ADA.[30]
A.K. co-produced the track "Monsoon" on British artist Wesley Joseph's album GLOW, and was also featured in its music video.
| Song | Artist | Credit | Album | Release Date | UK Singles Chart | Certification | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "BTSTU" | Writing/Production/Background Vocals | Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones) | April 2011 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | |
| "Jasmine" | Writing/Production | Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones) | March 2012 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | |
| "Higher Res" | Bass/Recording | Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors | December 2012 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | |
| "Next To Me" | Co-writing/Bass | Our Version of Events | February 2012 | 2 | Platinum | |||
| Guitars/Bass | Devotion | April 2013 | 105 | |||||
| "Nirvana" | Writing | Nirvana (EP) | January 2014 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | |
| "So Good" | Writing/Production/Vocals | So Good E.P. | December 2014 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | |
| "You" | JONES | Writing/Production | Indulge (EP) | June 2015 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - |
| "FLESH" | Writing/Production | Wildheart | June 2015 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | |
| "Give It Up", "So Free" and "Mother" | Maverick Sabre | Writing | Innerstanding | October 2015 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - |
| "Landcruisin'" | A.K. Paul | Writing/Production/Mixing/Mastering | Landcruisin' | March 2016 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - |
| "Trophy" | Writing/Production/Vocals | For All We Know | July 2016 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | |
| "Rising Water (A. K. Paul Remix)" | Production/Additional Vocals | We Move | 29 September 2016 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - | |
| "Eve" | HIRA | Production | Eve/Rarri | 12 May 2017 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - |
| "Who Is It Gonna B" | Mura Masa | Writing/Vocals | Mura Masa | 14 July 2017 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - |
| "Evil" | Ruthven | Production | Evil | 16 November 2017 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - |
| "Mystery" | Fabiana Palladino | Production | Mystery | 16 November 2017 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - |
| "Hypothalamus" | Ruthven | Production | Hypothalamus | 25 July 2018 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - |
| "Shimmer" | Fabiana Palladino | Production | Shimmer | 25 July 2018 | align="center" | - | align="center" | - |
| "Be Honest" | A.K. Paul | Writing/Production/Mixing/Mastering/Vocals | Paul Institute - Summer 2020 | 28 July 2020 | - | - | ||
| "Shadow Knight" | Reinen | Writing/Production | Paul Institute - Summer 2020 | 29 July 2020 | - | - | ||
| "Have You Decided?" | Ruthven | Writing/Production/Mixing/Mastering | Paul Institute - Summer 2020 | 30 July 2020 | - | - | ||
| "Cheers Mate" | A.K. Paul | Writing/Production/Mixing/Mastering | SoundCloud release | 12 April 2021 | - | - | ||
| "Wake Me Up", "2001", "Summer Sky" and "Looking High" | Foals | Production | Life Is Yours | 17 June 2022 | - | - | ||
| "Monsoon" | Wesley Joseph | Production | Secretly Canadian/EEVILTWINN | 20 April 2023 | - | - |