I spend a lot of time that day waiting for LP. First their plane is delayed, then they are stuck in traffic. Once I am told they have finally arrived, I wonder if they will actually have the headspace to talk and what it must be like to be rushed into a city and directly thrown into a room with a total stranger to talk about your work. LP is definitely tired and is helping themselves to the generous supplies of Red Bull provided for them, but still, the minute I enter the room, there is this sense of „this is going to be fun“ in the air.
About to release their sixth studio album „Love Lines“, LP is, as quickly becomes apparent, living their best life. We talk a lot about freedom, we wander from subject to subject, because it’s more fun than sticking to a list of questions. We joke around and laugh a lot. I tell them that their hair represents a number of pop cultural milestones to me – Prince, Matty Healy, young Peaches. Chatting with LP over Red Bull means meeting an artist that with their latest work has reached the core of who they are and want to be, as a person as well as an artist.
Did you really just arrive?
Yeah.
Where did you come from?
London. I stayed up all night. I had a date (laughs).
I hope you are still having a good time?
Yeah! I’m having a great time. I’m having too good of a time. I’m scared of myself (laughs).
I mean, it’s amazing that you are here. The chance to meet artists in person has become so rare.
To be honest with you, I don’t understand why the fuck I’m here. Why did I have to get on a flight to Berlin at 5am? I don’t know. There must be a reason. I guess it’s a radio thing.
I thought maybe you were super keen on travelling after the pandemic.
Oh jeez, no. I started touring end of 2021. I was one of the first bands to be back in Europe. That was some crazy shit. I’ve been travelling a lot. I just go where they tell me to go (laughs). But it’s good. I’m glad. It feels right.
So, how has life been, ever since the last record?
It’s been good! This record did blow my mind, it came out so fast. I worked with new people, they were kind of pandemic friends. I knew them, but I didn’t know them well. I went through a breakup. I’m single for the first time in many, many, many years. But yeah, I was living alone for a change, making a lot of different, closer friends than I had in a while. Sometimes a tour can be very isolating. If you are in a relationship and you are touring, sometimes it’s very isolating. I didn’t wanna not write with these people, but I wasn’t trying to write with them, because I was a little scared. No, I wasn’t scared, but I was not pushing to write with friends, because I didn’t want it to not be good. But then we started writing, just casually for another friend, and then that turned into a really good thing. Then I went and did a trip to the Cayman Islands. Because I like to go extravagant when I’m writing (laughs).
Oh I read that and thought, that sounds so good.
I know, I’m always like „I don’t give a shit“. „But do you have to go to an extravagant place?“ „Yeah, I do.“ (laughs) I go wherever the fuck I want! Anyway, I went to Cayman Islands, it was awesome, wrote a lot of fucking dope ass songs, went on tour for another six weeks and then went to Palm Springs and wrote another bunch of songs. And here I sit, pushing my music at people (laughs). But no, it feels good. This record feels very fresh and free and easy.
That is so interesting that you say that. Because that’s exactly what I thought when I listened to the record. I feel like your music has always been very open and embracing everything and everyone. But here, you sound to me more free than ever.
I feel very free. I am free. I AM FREE! You have to set yourself free. I think I sacrificed a lot on the altar of my career path, relationship wise. It feels good to not have anyone waiting around for me. Or me waiting around for them. Being an itinerant musician is a lonely thing. Even when you are around a lot of people. I have to say, I even think it’s lonelier when you have a relationship at home, because you’re not with that person. They can’t be really with you and intimate with you. I think I just got past the stage of being able to say to another person „I miss you babe…“ Now I just say it to seven different people (laughs). It’s all super open and honest. I am just enjoying my friends and the people I’m singing to. This record feels like another room in the house of LP (laughs). It feels like it’s worthy of another whole wing actually. It felt like a kick up. My facility with words, my poetry level went up another tick, I hope. I think.
The album makes me think of so many things. It goes to all these different places. I think of Dusty Springfield.
Oh nice. That’s cool.
Some kitchy sixties vibe that I love. And then there is „Love Song“ and we’re in the eighties and I’m like: „Oh my God, I want to put my aerobic gear on!“ (LP laughs). I’m always amazed how much warmth it brings into the music when you have these classic references and put them into a modern context.
I was listening to a bunch of Cat Stevens going into these sessions. I never really felt like I did much Linda Ronstadt shit, and it feels a little Linda Ronstadt-ish.
Some Dolly Parton break-up songs.
Some Dolly Parton, definitely. Some Roy Orbison. That song „One Like You“, we wrote that the night that Ronnie Spector died. We weren’t doing that on purpose. We were just like waaaaah… the spirit of her was felt in the room.
Oh, I have to tell you this. When I watched your video for „Golden“, somehow the subtitles on my YouTube were turned on, and when it starts, the subtitles say „quirky music“, before it goes into the lyrics.
„Quirky music“? That. Is. Funny.
Would you agree with that?
No, I would fucking smack YouTube in the fucking head. Quirky… it’s a beautiful complex riff! Fucking idiots. Quirky music… Let the writers write, you just shut the fuck up. Might as well just put „fart noise“… Quirky music… (laughs)
To calm things down, let’s look at the timeline a bit. You released your album „Churches“ in 2021. That was still during the pandemic.
Yup. It was at the end of 2021. But I had been releasing singles the whole time. It was a weird time. I released fucking six singles. Because there was nothing else to do, what are you gonna do? It was the only way to reach people during that time. To be honest, this record felt like it was very soon after „Churches“. People be like: „Wow, I’ve been waiting for your music“. I was like: „What do you mean fucking waiting? The thing’s been out a year.“ That was quick for me.
When I’m doing interviews like this where I get the album so early, I always realise what a long process it is. How long do you sit with a finished album until it’s finally out? How do you learn to let go, to know when it’s really finished?
I just feel like I know. I knew when we did the first sessions in Cayman, I knew that I was close to being done. I felt like I needed one more session to see if I could beat anything or add to anything. Not that I beat anything, I added to it. The Deluxe has got 15 songs on it, it will come out beginning of next year. Yeah, everything just felt good. I wanted to put it all on the record, but then we decided to do a Deluxe. Fair enough. 15 songs is a lot to listen to as a first release. I don’t really think many people want to sit through 15 songs from an artist. 12 is enough. And if you really like it, then you can listen to the rest (chuckles).
I get that, but personally I like long albums.
You do? Nice. What’s your favourite long album?
I think it goes back to when I was a kid. I always loved double vinyls. These days I’ve gotten a bit lazy with them, because you have to change the record so much.
Yeah (laughs).
I always was a huge Prince fan. One of my favourite long albums will always be „Sign o‘ the Times“.
That’s a good one.
You can do so much more storytelling in a long album.
Yeah, you get into the person’s world. It depends on the artist. It’s like a mood. But it’s hard to hit only top songs with a long album.
Fleetwood Mac. To me every single song on „Tusk“ is a hit.
You think every single song on „Tusk“ is a hit? I don’t know about that. I need to lie down on the couch to think about that.
LP lies down on the couch, the ice cubes in their Red Bull glass clinking, their big black boots slouching on the arm rest. We chat a bit back and forth about Fleetwood Mac, they joke about entering the deep talk, now that they are lying down on the couch for analysis. I have to say, I’ve never had anyone lie down in front of me for an interview. But at this point I have already grown accustomed to the fact that LP is quite a special character. This is fun.
I really like the video you made for „Golden“.
Ah, thanks. I was like, are people gonna get that these women are memories? Or is it just me in a house with a bunch of women? Not a bad thing. Always depicting myself as a stud. Yay! Wait till you see the next video. It’s a nice video. Stephen Schofield the director: his first treatment was me painting dead bodies of gold. I came back to him: buddy, you lost me at dead bodies. Can you imagine? Dead bodies, dude! What? (laughs) „Golden“ is a simple song. But I think it’s complex in its simplicity. It’s not just like dead air, like (squeals) „Be happy! Be Golden!“ You don’t have to be torturing yourself. I pretty much beat myself up about every single relationship, always, way too long. Every single fucking one, every time. I’d like to stop that (laughs). I don’t mean having no empathy or not caring. Just not… you know, things end. And that’s okay. It’s not the end of the world for things to end.
Do you know the concept of the positive mind, the negative mind and the neutral mind? The positive and the negative minds are the ones that are always engaging with everything and everyone, all the time. The neutral mind comes in play when you step back and actively try to take a look at the bigger picture. Maybe that’s what you mean and that’s what could be helpful in these kind of situations.
Yeah. I think I am trying to do that. I’ve just had so many relationships where I’m like: Shit, I should have taken some time between these two. I feel like I ruined a bunch of relationships because I jumped right in or there was an overlap. I was able to write about it. There was a lot of writing about: Where am I going from here? Did I miss out on something? Did I fuck it up? The song „Big Time“ is about that. Sometimes being a writer you flash out scenarios that maybe did or didn’t happen. I don’t know, it’s like a creative space. I’m going back to the word „free“. I felt very free to explore those things. I remember… (chuckles) my ex-girlfriend, we were coming towards the end and she was like: „Now what will you write about? Me?“ And I was like: „Myself!“ (laughs). The best people have accused me – okay, accused is a strong word – they said „you just have relationships so that you can write about them.“ Yeah, that was the first thing on my mind. I fuck you and then I write about it.
Honestly, this album sounds like you are living your best life and you appear as you are living your best life.
That’s how I seem? Nice.
I noted down this line from „Golden“: „Don’t get broken before it gets beautiful“. That’s such a great line.
Thanks.
It made me think of some friends I lost along the way when they were way too young. And every time I see young people struggling, I want to tell them – I know it sounds cheesy, but it does get better.
I wasn’t sure if I was gonna write that line as „we’re all broken before we get beautiful“. Which I also really like. But „don’t get broken before it gets beautiful“ was the first thing that popped up and I decided I like that, because I sat with the other one for a while. Like you said, I am living my best life. Because I am the truest form of me. Because I made this up (laughs). I mean, we all do that. And it’s how I feel on the inside. It’s nice to have these two things match. But it was a journey.
So we did actually get into the deep talk in the end. We finish up by taking a photo together, and LP’s assistant jokes that we should have taken it on the bed. There is this constant cheeky attitude around LP, but it never feels like overstepping. It’s an attitude that has emerged over the years and has surely been fuelled by fights against external judgement and inner struggles. LP has perceptibly overcome the need to please everyone and is, indeed, living their best life. A couple of hours later, when I post our photo on Instagram, they kindly thank me for the nice chat. Going along the Love Lines of LP is really, really fun.
LP’s new album „Love Lines“ is out September 29th.
Photo © Ryan Jay