With two EPs to their name, Lutalo has already caught the attention of big names in indie music. Andy Shauf and Adrianne Lenker both invited them on tour, Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold has sung their praise, and now, Claud linked up with them for a joint track. And for good reason. A masterful blend of folk, rock, and soul, Lutalo cuts through as a bright new voice in indie rock.
It’s been a couple months since Lutalo dropped the excellent Again EP, which veils biting social and political commentary under fuzzy chords. The wildly addictive earworm “PLHP” is a reference to The White House and “the struggles of navigating the political structure in America as a racially marginalized person/person of lower income.” Meanwhile the softer, fuzzy number “Push Back Baby” references stolen adolescence and the cycles of crime. “I want to help people question the way they’re living so we can create a better reality for us to exist in together,” Lutalo says about their music in a statement.
On the heels of their Claud collab, Lutalo sits down with Uproxx to talk a festival in a grocery story, P!nk, and sending billionaires to Mars in our latest Q&A.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Botanical, chemical, itchy, dense.
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
Like a fish in a stream, on its way to the ocean. On its own journey, doing its own thing.
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
Hmmm, let’s go with one of my earliest childhood friends, Winnie the Pooh. Always so easy going and simple, I like that.
Where did you eat the best meal of your life and what was it?
It’s bad but I honestly don’t remember a lot of food. I kinda eat just cause I have to. Food is good and all but it’s never that memorable for me.
Tell us about the best concert you’ve ever attended.
Maybe not my best but the craziest was back in 2011 I believe, I was taken to go see P!nk in concert with my friend and his dads cause they had extra tickets. She was flying over the crowd in a harness doing flips and stuff while singing. Was wild. Never seen anything like that before, never seen anything like that since.
What song never fails to make you emotional?
“A Quick One Before the Eternal Worm Devours Connecticut” by Have a Nice Life.
What’s the last thing you Googled?
How squirrels ended up in cities.
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
In the middle of a huge park in Munich.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform and what’s the city you hope to perform in for the first time?
Favorite is NYC and not a city but I’d love to make it to Ireland one day.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Learn to say no.
What’s one of your hidden talents?
Switch on Legend of Zelda and you’ll see.
If you had a million dollars to donate to charity, what cause would you support and why?
I’d donate to getting the ultra wealthy to Mars. So they can stop messing up life on earth for everyone.
What are your thoughts about AI and the future of music?
I don’t give it too much thought honestly. I feel like If you want to hear music from an AI, then maybe you have yet to find an artist that has made you realize why music or any art for that matter exists. But you know what, also you do you. If however, the concern is that your style of music is going to be stolen, then maybe we have to question why you want to make music in the first place. If you’re wanting a career, making music that’s so formulaic that AI can sum it up may not be the move.
You are throwing a music festival. Give us the dream lineup of 5 artists that will perform with you and the location it would be held.
Labor Siffre, Aphex twin, Fleetwood Mac, Deerhoof, Nina Simone. And let’s just pop it somewhere different. A grocery store perhaps?
Who’s your favorite person to follow on social media?
My sister.
What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
Cannot provide you with that as I actually don’t have any.
What is your pre-show ritual?
A pack of gummy bears and a shot of mezcal.
Who was your first celebrity crush?
I honestly don’t know.
What is your biggest fear?
Being stuck here repeating.
Again is out now via Winspear. Find more information here.