Interview: Get to know Lone

Lone has recently released Levitate, a 9 track LP that combines psychedelic ambiance with hardcore and jungle influences. His been on our list of favorite for a while now, so we were incredibly excited to sit down with the talented artist to learn about his latest work.

Hey, how’s it going Lone? It’s good to speak with you!

Yo! very well thank you.

So you just released your new album ‘Levitate’, I loved the artwork by the way. What’s the story behind the cover?

Oh great, yeah it’s a beautiful image. A Facebook friend of mine took the pic and stuck it up there – i saw it and it completely represented the music I was making so i hit him up about using the pic and he was totally hyped to be a part so we took it from there.

The album has some very spacey tones, with a predominantly Drum & Bass feel. And with song titles such as “The Morning Birds”, “Breeze Out” and “Sea Of Tranquility”, what pushed you to create this contrast throughout?

I think you can’t have one without the other – the harsher jungle tunes needed little breathers in between to make the whole thing flow how i wanted it to.

“Sleepwalkers” is my favourite track from the album. Tell me how you pieced this song together and the inspiration behind it.

Oh cool! yeah that’s the track i think maybe stands out as being on it’s own on the album. It all came together quite organically actually – the melody came very easy and everything else came from there – that tends to be how most of my best stuff comes together. It was all inspired by a short recording of my sister speaking to her then 6 month old son – the sample is buried in the track if you listen very, very closely.

It turns out you’re quite a Hip Hop head, you recently tweeted your excitement of Danny Brown joining Warp Records. What is it about him that you love most?

His mad, twisted head. His fucking voice! he’s a proper one off that dude.. I’ve loved everything he’s put out so far and think Warp is the perfect home for him. very excited for his next album.

I read that you worked with Tyler, the Creator & Earl Sweatshirt during the early days of Odd Future. Tell me how that came about?

Haha nah that’s not quite true unfortunately – basically I spoke to Earl very briefly on twitter and he mentioned that when him and Tyler where doing the first Odd Future mixtape they used my track ‘Waves Imagination’ as a beat to rap on but it never made the cut. Crazy!

On your 2014 release ‘Reality Testing’, you brought forward a very soulful, sample-driven sound with some glorious synths. Will we be seeing you return to this sound in the future?

Yeah man, for sure. Working on some house stuff at the moment that definitely feels like a continuation of Reality Testing…

I noticed you view at your albums based on locations. Where would you say ‘Levitate’ is and where would you like to take your next project?

Levitate is [about] driving too fast on a perfect summers day with a fever or under the influence of psychedelics through Los Angeles. Next project – who knows? i’m enjoying making tracks which exist on their own at the moment, much more of a live – jammed out feel to them.

You’ve played a string of shows this month, for new fans who may not have had the chance to see you live, how would you describe your sets?

A totally full on representation of what you hear on my records but with a lot of improvisation and banging live drums. It’s so much fun to play and is pretty exciting to witness I think.

What are your plans for the rest of year, any new things on the horizon?

Yep! just started working on a bunch of dancefloor oriented stuff… hopefully to come out this year.

Written by Parth Barot.