Ghostpoet to perform at the Hackney Empire

Older and wiser: Ghostpoet. Photograph: Sophia Spring

I meet Ghostpoet – real name Obaro Ejimiwe – in the café at the Hackney Picturehouse. It is a fitting location, opposite the Hackney Empire where he is due to play a homecoming gig in October following the release of his second album, Some Say I So I Say Light.

For Ejimiwe the prospect of playing such a notable venue is exciting, though he has as yet never set foot inside the Empire, and he doesn’t intend to do so until the night of the performance on 24 October.

By entering the space without preconceptions he hopes to “take in the full force” of it on the night and channel this energy into delivering a genuinely unique performance, he says.

“I love playing live,” he adds. “I try to make it as interesting as possible for the audience.”

Ghostpoet is in the midst of a busy few months. His Hackney gig will round off a tour schedule that is encompassing eight venues in the UK and Ireland, a spot at Bestival and a handful of Australian dates.

For many fans, the gigs will be their first opportunity to see him perform live since Some Say I So I Say Light was released earlier this year.

The album presents a series of dislocated first-person observations and narratives, backed by a wide palate of garage, dubstep, soul and jazz-inflected samples and beats.

Thematically, the new record covers similar ground to his debut EP, The Sound of Strangers.

It contains vignettes of urban life and everyday relationships, though this time round the vocals are murkier and more diffracted, with their meaning trickier to pin down.

“Consciously or unconsciously, I was trying not to do what I did in my first record,” Ejimiwe says. “The new record is definitely an evolvement, lyrically and musically, but it’s still me.”

Given his growing commercial success, does he find it difficult to maintain his music’s focus on the pressures and patterns of everyday life?

“I’m very conscious that I have to remain normal,” he says. “For me it definitely helped that I didn’t start making music professionally until my late twenties. I did the nine-to-five thing for a long time. I know I’m in a very lucky position to make music and pay the bills from something that I love.”

Inspiration for his music comes from many sources, including everyday observations of life in Hackney. Ejimiwe has lived in borough for a couple of years now, and he is still discovering new places and aspects to the area.

“I really like it,” he says. “It’s like its own village here in London. Everything’s here.”

Once the touring is over he is keen to preserve enough space to enjoy what’s around him and to continue developing.

“I feel that I could make another record soon if I wanted to,” he adds. “But at the same time I want to live and experience the world some more.”

Ghostpoet will be performing at the Hackney Empire, 291 Mare Street, E8 1EJ, at 7pm on 24 October. For tickets call 084 4477 1000