First Play: LAL Find Safety

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audio LAL
Find Safety
Stream until April 29

Find Safety is Toronto electronic group LAL's fifth album and for their new record, Rosina Kazi and Nick Murray have revisited the sonic terrain where they began with a fresh approach.

Calling their album '4 a.m. music,' LAL's latest album is more beat-driven than their recent ambient-leaning efforts like their 2012 self-titled record and 2008's Deportation.

"It's about us being a lot more exposed to our roots," says Murray describing the sonic approach of the record. "We come from sample-based technology and the two-bar loop being the thing. I think this record was a return to that aesthetic and kind of doing away with all the music industry expectations of what we should be doing."

Consequently, Find Safety finds LAL looking back with influences as eclectic as Massive Attack, Fela Kuti and Detroit techno -- the latter being especially prevalent in lead single "Stand In My Way" — while burrowing forward with an inimitably sonically progressive modus operandi.

"We were really trying to focus on what we were good at — and not just what we were good at — but what we wanted to say and what our true intentions were," says Murray. "And a lot of that came from hearing the one or two bar loop over and over again."

A lot of what LAL wanted to say thematically about their longtime commitment to social justice causes on Find Safety came from their stewardship of Unit 2, an organic event space for creatives the duo runs in the west end of Toronto out of their home.

"I was like, I just want to hibernate and create all this great space for folks that don't necessarily always want to go to the club, for queer folks and folks of colour, to create something that was more community-based and still presented good work and that we had control over as a community," says Kazi. "And I think that's been the vibe of Unit 2 and that's always been the vibe of LAL."

And while the duo rarely performs at Unit 2 themselves, the creativity thrumming in the space has directly influenced their own work.

"Unit 2 has mostly been supporting other folks and from the energy of that and the things that we've been able to create with community, came the vibe of this record," says Kazi.

Find Safety will be released on Rae Spoon's Coax label on April 29. You can pre-order the record here and look out for an upcoming CBC Music First Play Live with the group.

Tracklist

1. "Dead Happiness"
2. "Tiny Mirrors"
3. "Rules Were Meant To Be Broken"
4. "Stand In My Way"
5. "Close"
6. "One Way"
7. "Rubbish"
8. "Towards the Door"
9. "Find Safety"

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by Del F. Cowie via Electronic RSS