Kwesi Sey, professionally known as Kwes (; sometimes stylised as kwes, kwes., Kwes. or [o=o]. ) is a British music producer, composer and artist from London, England. Kwes is also currently signed to Warp as a solo artist and released his debut album, ilp, in October 2013. He has since gone on to produce music for the likes of Damon Albarn, Bobby Womack, Solange Knowles, Sampha, Loyle Carner, Black Coffee, Nubya Garcia, Mica Levi, Tirzah, Lucy Rose and numerous others. He also composed his debut feature length score for 2023 British rom-com film Rye Lane, directed by Raine Allen-Miller. It won a BIFA in 2023 for Best Original Music.
Kwes began playing his grandparents' organ at the age of four and his grandmother bought him his first small keyboard aged 5. For his tenth birthday, he received a radio/tape recorder with a built-in microphone, which launched his interest in sound recording. Kwes's younger brother is the musician Coby Sey.
In an interview in 2012, Kwes said he has synesthesia. His earliest synaesthetic experiences occurred around the age of 4 and he attempted to colour paper with the particular colours he was seeing when listening to music. These colours have been set since he first discovered his condition: "any form of a G-chord would have orange in it, and the other notes which are not G accompanying that G-chord would have an effect on the type of orange it is. Majors tend to be slightly brighter. Same applies for D which is always â yellow/green, E which is Yellow/gold, F which is violet/blue, C â Blue, A â light blue, B â yellow/gold/green." His synaesthetic impressions of his own music are translated in the artwork to his solo releases, including "Hearts in Home" and "No Need to Run".