"Not many people write from that side of the coin," he muses.
"I was actually surprised at how well it was received, because I wasn't sure. If you listen to everything that's on the radio today you're not gonna hear that ... but I guess having that point of difference kind of cuts through all the other noise, eh?"
He's not wrong. Teeks' debut EP The Grapefruit Skies is out tomorrow and it definitely stands out, with his deep, textured, soulful voice set to old-time blues tracks, all steeped in nostalgia.
And although it's easy to assume this is an EP about love, it's actually more about loss after last year saw Teeks lose his aunty, his grandfather, and his sister lost her baby.
"I just didn't know what I was doing, I was kind of all over the place and all this stuff was happening in my head. So that kind of inspired the EP."
The EP's title references the colour the sky turns during sunset - "Like being in a dream state with a person that you lost or that you loved, watching the sun go down," Teeks explains, his voice breaking.
Talking about his loss is not something he's comfortable with. In fact, he admits he's not "big on emotions" at all - "I kind of just use songs as my outlet".
"It's crazy, I couldn't sit down and talk to someone like, 'Oh, this is what's going on in my life,'" he says.
That's what The Grapefruit Skies does for him.
"It's different with music, because you can just let go and pour your heart out ... and I guess if it helps someone else that's going through the same thing, then that's a bonus."
LOWDOWN:
Who: Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi, aka Teeks
What: Debut EP The Grapefruit Skies
When: Available tomorrow
