Born in Leeds with a plethora of heritage at his side, ATO is an insanely talented Yorkshire-based, British-Ghanaian-Danish artist making experimental rap and hip-hop with a serious electronic pulse. Gaining serious attention with his 2019 collaboration with Vic Mensa, ATO touches on issues from the oversimplification of the Black-British experience, friendships and relationships, mental health battles, and his journey of self-discovery - exploring his Ghanaian and Danish roots as he has never met his extended family on either side and spent a year 'stateless' trying to get his British Citizenship despite being brought up as British.

His latest single ‘no caroline’ is the follow-up to his recently released mental health and politics focussed single, ‘Muscle Twitch’, ‘no caroline’ is another heart-rending track, brimming with raw sentiment stemming from past trauma, dysfunctional relationships, and is influenced by ATO’s on-going journey of self-discovery, defining his identity and understanding his heritage.

Like all great artists hailing their way to the top, ATO is keen in his approach to creating a sound that radiates his energy. Perfecting his craft with lyrics that explore important themes that surround him and oscillating synths and minimal drum patterns that make up the backbone to his tracks, ATO is a name to keep on your radar.

PENALTY got the opportunity with meet with ATO at his old haunts in East London, where we chatted about music, football and the influence behind his music.

Where did your music journey begin?

I started working on music when I was around 9. It kind of started off as writing stories and then sort of naturally building into music. I used to write a lot of stories and paint a lot of pictures as a kid and then over time when I started to find music that I was interested in, I started to translate what I already had started doing into music.

Your music has been described as an exploration of your Ghanian and Danish roots, but you were born and raised in Yorkshire. How has this influenced your music? 

I grew up mostly in York, from the age of 9 I was in York and I found myself struggling to fit in in some ways and because I was somewhat removed from my Ghanian and Danish roots. I found that music became a home, especially in the years prior to living in York, because I had spent a few years travelling in different parts of the world with my mum. So when we came to York I started to write music and started to try and find a sense of home and a sense that would allow me to express myself or more so to find who I was more so than expressing myself. 

What’s your most memorable time growing up in York?

In York, my most memorable time growing up would be centred around football. I used to play for a small team called Hamilton Panthers and I had a lot of good memories playing for them. I’d play across the country and travel to different places and what was so special about that team is that it was the birth of my love for football. I would follow Arsenal because my dad was really into them and a lot of the kids and parents would refer to me as Thiery and it was a nice period where I fell in love with football and found a community in the city as a consequence of football. 

What’s your favourite footballing memory? 

That would actually be a recent occurrence, I went to the Liverpool Vs Barcelona final when Liverpool came back and beat Barcelona 4-1 and I was with my best friend who was a Liverpool fan and that was an incredible night. I remember my first ever Premier League game, it was Portsmouth vs Man city and it was before they were big. I was with the Hamilton Panthers team and they took us down to the Manchester city training ground and we got to train with some of their staff and then go to the game after and see Man City play and that was a really special experience as a young lad. 

It seems like you’ve seen a lot of varied football...

Yeah, for sure, I mean growing up all my mates were pretty much were Leeds fans so when I first moved to the city it was those glory days when Mark Viduka, Alan Smith and Rio Ferdinand played and I just remember the impact that the Leeds United team of that era had on the cities of Leeds and York and just the excitement it brought to young people in the city.

It offered a lot of inspiration for young people and a lot of hope and excitement and so i’ve always felt attached to Leeds United as a consequence of that.. Moving back to Leeds in recent years, I had a season ticket there for the couple of seasons and managed to see them for a couple of years before they got promoted to the Prem. Seeing the way in Bielsa’s style of football and the injection of a whole new style has really been an inspiration. To see that excitement reemerge in the city and to see the history of the club reimagine itself, it’s a beautiful thing. 

Your music has been described as an exploration of your Ghanian and Danish roots, but you were born and raised in Yorkshire. How has this influenced your music? 

I grew up mostly in York, from the age of 9 I was in York and I found myself struggling to fit in in some ways and because I was somewhat removed from my Ghanian and Danish roots. I found that music became a home, especially in the years prior to living in York, because I had spent a few years travelling in different parts of the world with my mum. So when we came to York I started to write music and started to try and find a sense of home and a sense that would allow me to express myself or more so to find who I was more so than expressing myself. 

What’s your most memorable time growing up in York?

In York, my most memorable time growing up would be centred around football. I used to play for a small team called Hamilton Panthers and I had a lot of good memories playing for them. I’d play across the country and travel to different places and what was so special about that team is that it was the birth of my love for football. I would follow Arsenal because my dad was really into them and a lot of the kids and parents would refer to me as Thiery and it was a nice period where I fell in love with football and found a community in the city as a consequence of football. 

What’s your favourite footballing memory? 

That would actually be a recent occurrence, I went to the Liverpool Vs Barcelona final when Liverpool came back and beat Barcelona 4-1 and I was with my best friend who was a Liverpool fan and that was an incredible night. I remember my first ever Premier League game, it was Portsmouth vs Man city and it was before they were big. I was with the Hamilton Panthers team and they took us down to the Manchester city training ground and we got to train with some of their staff and then go to the game after and see Man City play and that was a really special experience as a young lad. 

It seems like you’ve seen a lot of varied football...

Yeah, for sure, I mean growing up all my mates were pretty much were Leeds fans so when I first moved to the city it was those glory days when Mark Viduka, Alan Smith and Rio Ferdinand played and I just remember the impact that the Leeds United team of that era had on the cities of Leeds and York and just the excitement it brought to young people in the city.

It offered a lot of inspiration for young people and a lot of hope and excitement and so i’ve always felt attached to Leeds United as a consequence of that.. Moving back to Leeds in recent years, I had a season ticket there for the couple of seasons and managed to see them for a couple of years before they got promoted to the Prem. Seeing the way in Bielsa’s style of football and the injection of a whole new style has really been an inspiration. To see that excitement reemerge in the city and to see the history of the club reimagine itself, it’s a beautiful thing. 

What’s the biggest inspiration behind the latest release? 

I’d say that the inspiration behind Side A is very much being forced to face a lot of things during lockdown and being driven to address a lot of things and be honest with myself. First and foremost I wanted to discuss my unique experience living in York in a 96% white town and how that was growing up mixed race here and how that differs to the broader Black British narrative. I felt that it was important despite the fact that is my norm to tell an untold story and so I felt that that was massive inspiration behind the project and in doing that I felt it had to be more honest than I had maybe been before in the sense I had to interrogate the not only society around me but myself but I had to say things and express my experiences even at times when it didn’t feel reflected well on me and i think whilst it might on the surface at times feel less detailed lyrically than previous projects, it was a much deeper insight into my experience than i’ve given before. 

What’s the inspiration behind the video for Muscle Twitch? 

It reflects my growing up in York. I had a really close friend and we grew up together as brothers and a lot of the themes around it refer to identity and trying to feel a place, a home and trying to place who you are. The walls falling around as your in your own bedroom, there’s never a place to which you feel safe and I struggled a lot with anxiety over the years and anxiety that can sort of even follow you in to what should be your most safe space. I guess the importance of it was to signal to a lot of cultural symbols but also within that the more personal details around struggling around feeling safe in your own personal space is a consequence of wider social political difficulties and tensions. 

If you could own one piece of football based clothing what would you go for? 

I used to have the gold arsenal kit, I can’t remember from what year. It was the JVC sponsorship and it was a Thierry Henry shirt and I lost it, but I would absolutely love to get that shirt back. Yeah, Thierry Henry has always been my biggest football inspiration, just on and off the pitch he’s a stand up guy. 

What’s next? 

We’ve got another single dropping, alongside my new EP Side A which comes out on 25th August on EDEN's MCMXCV label. I'm looking to be dropping music all year. We also have a couple of UK tour dates that have just been announced, playing at Headrow House in Leeds on Monday 4th October, and The Grace in London on Tuesday 5th October. We've also got New Parallel world gear, new merch coming too. There’s a few things that we’re looking forward to.