Please introduce yourself…

Who are you: My name is Laurence (alias Lu)

Where are you: In my sunny sunny room at the top of an old disused hospital building in London

What are you: Alive I hope

If this mixtape were to be drawn what would it look like?

A weird but maybe nice line

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

I think for some alone time either early in the morning or late in the middle of the night

What should we be wearing?

whatever ya want

Where was it recorded?

At home in this room

How do you feel about Mondays in general, excited…or?

Yeah love a monday, every days got a different feel to it.

Who got you hooked on electronic music?

hmmmmm an old friend who was a few years older then me took me to my first electronic event when I was 14 I think, and he used to give me all these cds of mixes that I’d listen to on repeat.

Who would you say are your biggest influences and what are you hoping to achieve with your music?

Within ambient… ummm I think William Basinki. Watermusic II was the first ambient track I heard that really done something deep to me, so him.

‘L’Île Re-Sonante by Eliane Radigue’ is another track that’s had a big influence. She was one of the many women creating ambient and experimental music way before a lot of the men who became famous for it did.

Then maybe Ghédalia Tazartès for just making some of the weirdest stuff I’ve ever ever heard. And then maybe Rod model as he’s another person with an endless list of beautiful ambient music. For myself, I’m not sure tbh I started making ambient music through lock down when making dance orientated stuff felt less relevant to me and ended up loving it more just for myself at first. So the fact that it’s being released and some other people might enjoy just feels like a lovely addition.

What were your original aspirations as musicians and how do you think you’re shaping up?

I can’t remember really. Haha I think I’m getting there, slowly slowly.

Some self help questions for a Monday:

Am I excited to dive into the challenges that i have lined up for the week?

yere

Am I looking forward to engaging with the people i am meeting or working with?

Yeyah

Am I going to my dream job?

Is there such a thing?? For me its the combination of things that makes me happy

Am I being compensated fairly for the value i bring to my job?

Yeah

Do I feel energised, rested, and confident?

hmmm energised yes, rested 50/50 confident? nooo, I don’t know anything for certain anymore.

What were the first and last records you bought?

Well it was bought for me when I was a little kid, but the Album ‘London is the place for me’. The album is a compilation by a collection of calypsonian artists, with tracks they made when they came over to London as part of the wind rush generation. I’d have it on repeat as I went to bed every night. As I got a bit older I eventually realised the tracks are organised in a way as to tell a story of the experiences of people coming over to the uk from the Caribbean. Starting with the track titled ‘London is the place for me’ by Lord Kitchener and ending with ‘If You’re not White you’re Black’ and then ‘Sweet Jamaica’ talking of the racism experienced in coming to the UK and the feelings that the situation they were facing in the UK, against what they were lead to believe by the colonial powers prior to coming, was actually far worse then the quality of life that they could live in the Caribbean, and far worse then the life they were promised in the UK. The last record would beee hmm lemme look, ‘Fumiya Tanaka – Right Moment’ which I’ve actually known for a while but revisited recently and remembered how crazy his productions are.

Anything else we need to discuss.

Nah I think we’re good

Out now on the great Between Fields on Cassette and Digital on Bandcamp