We had a chat with emerging artist Lou Raymond about his stirring debut single ‘Girlfriend’
With the release of his debut single ‘Girlfriend’, British singer-songwriter Lou Raymond has provided a lush showcase of his immersive, dreamy indie pop sound.
The track is packed full of candid and longing lyrics that meld effortlessly with the sombre nature of the instrumental. Lou Raymond may not have been a name that we knew before, but his relatable edge and engaging charisma feels sure to win him over some admirers as he continues to establish and build upon his sound. We had a chat with the artist and found out some more about his debut single and what other plans he has going forward.
Hey! We love your new single ‘Girlfriend’, what more can you tell us about it?
It’s the first release from my debut EP which is out later in the year. For a long time I’ve been ruminating which of the EP tracks to put out first and Girlfriend wasn’t in consideration the same way others were, probably because it’s much slower and more introspective than the other tracks. The more I thought about it though, the more all the things that scared me about the song started to become very exciting to me. I’ve been describing my sound as melodic maxims on love & hate and I think Girlfriend is a good example of that.
What was the process like putting it together?
It changed a lot, had a lot of iterations. A lot of my closest friends are musicians so there was a good amount of collaboration. I worked with Ollie Norton who sings on the track and plays guitar and William Keen, Josh Mosley and my brother Lex. These guys are all super creative with very fertile imaginations, so you try a bunch of stuff when rehearsing or recording, then in the mixing stages. a lot of it was taking things out that were superfluous, no matter how cool the parts were individually. Just trying to find the core elements that give the song its impact.
There is a really emotional and relatable feel to the sound, is that something that you aim for when you write?
Well the chord progression is very sad so that dictated it a little. Life is mostly suffering, pain and joy and I think you have to be coming from one of those places when you write something that people are gonna feel connected to. You tend not to think in those terms when you’re initially writing something, but by the time you’re recording it, I like to lean into whichever of those emotions is driving the song.
There are a lot of different styles that come together here, what were your main influences on the track?
I was listening to a lot of Phoebe Bridgers when working on it. I don’t think it really sounds anything like her stuff but I was inspired by how intimate and vulnerable her music feels. She can write lyrics about deadbeat ex boyfriends and Japanese pay phones that feel incredibly relatable, even though I have zero experience of either.
What else do you have planned for the near future?
Playing a show in London April 21st at the Spice of Life, off Shaftesbury Avenue, right next to the theatre that plays Harry Potter indefinitely.
