#106: ECHO
We're joined by Queer dreamer & art maniac, ECHO, who tells us more about brewed tea, art by Ed Paschke, transitioning from the colour red to white, ECHO RADIO, and more.
ECHO is a Johannesburg-born 19-year old. They’re Queer, a dreamer and art maniac building ECHO11, a creative identity fuelled by music, poetry, style, and curiosity. They create Nothing without meaning.
We welcome ECHO to The FRM Newsletter to share what they’ve been into recently!
👖🩰 FASHION / STYLE
I would describe my style as poetic, authentic, and curious, a poem I’m still writing. It’s authentic to how I see my soul, and curious because it’s always changing, not to keep up with trends but to keep up with where my head's at, how I’ve been feeling, and what I’ve been seeing that I can translate into my own taste or garment language.
My style is inspired by me and what I allow myself to take in. I find reference in look books, architecture, magazines, old fashion shows, my mom, and even my own emotions. For a long time, I was drawn to red, wearing it constantly, without fully realizing why. Later, I understood it symbolized something I felt I was lacking: love, passion, desire. I had so much of it to give, and still do, but rarely directed it back toward myself. When I saw this clearly, I let go of red softly. Now, I wear it in hints, reminders of how far I’ve come in learning to pour back into myself.
Lately, I’ve been fixated on white. I think it mirrors where I’m at: creating room for clarity, softness, newness. White feels like a breath, like light reflecting off blank pages I’ve only just started to write on.
Fashion has always held space in my life. As a kid, I’d watch FashionTV any chance I got. Now, I still raid my mom’s iconic wardrobe when nothing in mine feels right. It’s one of the most honest ways I tell my story...without needing to talk anyone’s ear off.
🎧🎤 MUSIC
I love sound to the deepest parts of my existence! I genuinely don’t think I’d be here without it. Everything is music to me, even the rhythm of my heart beating as I write about how much I love it. That, too, is sound.
Right now, I’m drawn to anything strange and textured, trip-hop, experimental jazz and old school rave. I’m obsessed with sounds that feel like they shouldn’t go together but somehow just do. Artists like Thom Yorke, Moin, Sneaker Pimps, Tricky, Willow, and Public Memory have been on repeat. But the list could easily stretch over 11 pages.
To make it simpler, I’ve started making playlists under the name ECHO RADIO on Spotify (for now). DJing and creating my own sound is definitely on the horizon. I sing a little... just enough to hold a note but nothing practice can’t shape.
Music is pure liberation to me. I’ve moved through countless phases like most of us do: heavy metal, dancehall, rock, R&B, South African jazz… and I still revisit them all. Artists like Thandiswa Mazwai and Simphiwe Dana hold such a sacred place in my heart. I love anything that gets me moving physically, mentally, spiritually. Isn’t that the whole point? To move, or even better, to bring people together. That’s what makes it so beautiful.
Lately, I’ve been hyper fixated on 'A New Place to Drown' the album Archy Marshall made before becoming King Krule. It feels like a world you fall into without warning and would highly recommend.
🖼🎭 ART
Art is a word that perfectly describes my world. I used to think I couldn’t call myself an artist unless I created something insanely moving, life-changing, or important but in reality, the concept of my mere existence is art itself. And that goes for everyone. I believe that since we were all created by a creator, and come from that source, we are creators too,in so many ways.
Once I truly understood that, my whole perspective bent and expanded. I began to let myself think like a polymath. Right now, I might just be a multi-passionate person, but I don’t want to be a jack of all trades and a master of none.
One artist I’ve been looking into a lot lately is Ed Paschke. I love how unapologetically bold his work is, his obsession with green, his fearless pairing of colors that “shouldn’t” work together but somehow create an energy you can’t look away from. His paintings feel raw, almost electric, but there’s this quiet beauty in them too. They’re alive, but not in a polite, easy way, more in the way truth is alive.
I find myself endlessly fascinated by literature, poetry, sketching, music, style, architecture, hair, photography, and collage-making. My goal is to master them all! slowly, deliberately... with love and ambition as my foundation. I’d describe my art as feeling. I treat it as a ritual, a way to express, process, and move energy.
🎬🎨 FILM
I’d like to believe I’m a film fanatic more than a movie fan. I love a good, mind-boggling film, something that leaves you wondering, what did I just watch? I enjoy breaking them down, thinking about the layers behind the production, the intention in every shot.
This is another list that could go on forever, but off the top of my head, I always recommend Bones and All, I Origins and How to Talk to Girls at Parties. These are films I’ve rewatched one too many times.
I really love a good performance from Timothée Chalamet, there’s something about his work that feels so true to him. One of my favourite scenes of his is the audition moment in Miss Stevens, where he performs a monologue from Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman:
“I am not a dime a dozen! I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman!”
His character, carrying so much pain, breaks down in that moment and every word he softly screams cracks him open. I can’t help but shed a tear. He’s so real.
Another favourite of mine is Taylor Russell. Her softness, the way she speaks with such grace and intention, it’s so beautiful to witness. To have Bones and All exist with both of them in it honestly felt like a prayer answered.
📚🧠 BOOKS
I wasn’t always someone who enjoyed reading to be honest, it often frustrated me as a dyslexic person. But I found my way through it when I started writing and reading my own poetry. That’s when the words finally felt like mine.
These days, I love a good self-help or eye-opening book, something that expands the way I see people and myself. Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson was one of the first. It breaks down human behaviour into four personality types using colours, helping you understand why people communicate the way they do. Another one I recommend is The Outward Mindset by The Arbinger Institute. It teaches the power of shifting your focus from inward (me-cantered) to outward (others-cantered), which can change how you approach relationships, work, and growth. People are all we have, grab them while you still can.
One of my favourite fantasy books, though, is one that’s never even been released. It’s called Orb of Souls by Emma Dunckley. We found boxes of it in a house my family once moved into, like a gift left behind. I devoured it. What made it even more special was that I took the name “Thade” from it, the name I used for so long. Thade was the god of death in the book, but he didn’t stand by stereotypes. He was kind, soft-spoken, and saw the beauty in death and rebirth. That really stuck with me, how death isn’t just an end, but a return, a transformation. There’s something powerful and peaceful about that.
🍵☺️ FOOD
I’m not much of a foodie or a picky eater. Sure, there are things I love and things I can’t stand but doesn’t everyone have that balance? One thing I am passionate about, though, is tea. Oh, how I love teas and not just the ones you buy in a box. I’m talking about real brews, with actual herbs and honey as sweetener.
I’ve been leaning into a more holistic lifestyle, and tea has become the easiest way for me to start. It’s my medicine. It’s how I care for my gut, skin, hair, nails...the benefits are endless. I’m honestly shocked more people don’t brew their own.
My personal favourites and daily go-to is ginger, honey, and lemon tea. I often use it as a base and build on it from there, depending on what I feel I need. A good combo is adding rosemary, mint, and hibiscus. Now that I think about it… I might actually write a tea recipe book one day.
💭 FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Remember how, as kids, they’d always tell us to “just be yourself” or “believe in yourself”? well they honestly had no reason to lie...all you have in the end is your "self" These phrases just start to sound corny as we grow up, blurred by the weight of real-life circumstances. But the thing is: reality is all in your head. You choose what it becomes by tuning in and believing in what you want to believe.
To really do that, though, you have to obliterate the edge of your understanding, the rules, the way things ought to be. You have to unlearn what doesn’t serve you so you can relearn in your own language. Let yourself know nothing sometimes. Think critically. Take notes. Put things into action.
No matter what religion or belief system you follow, most of the books and teachings say the same thing: stories of love, fear, and a higher source. Use the wisdom that came before you as a compass while writing your own story but don’t stay narrow-minded, the soul knows no limits. There’s so much more to this experience.
Stay present… or you’ll miss it.
