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[TMN EXCLUSIVE] Little People Interview

little people
For Rosie DJ mix

There’s just something about listening to an artist over and over again. Song after song. Sound after sound. You seem to gain a confidence that you know exactly what a live performance would be like. Then that moment arrives, when you open up the paper and see them at a venue in your home town. You go to the show and it’s not what you expected. It’s better than what you expected, and in so many ways.

This was the story for this writer when Little People came to Denver. Laurent Clerc aka Little People has one of those sounds that’s incredibly infectious. His downtempo hip hop infused beats carry gracefully over carefully orchestrated woodwind instruments creating a sound that is overwhelmingly atmospheric and experiential.

We had a chance to sit down with the ever so humble Laurent Clerc outside of Larimer Lounge and talked about music over an American Spirit.

TMN: Let’s start of by talking about how the tour is going so far.

LP: Yes, it’s going really well so far. I have been very lucky to jump on board with Emancipator for his west coast dates and he pulls in very big crowds, so I have got the chance to play in amazing spots and locations. We played san Francisco – 800 people, L.A. 1000 people. It’s going really well. Now I am at the end of my Colorado run, played a couple of dates in the mountains. Denver is going to be pretty well tonight, I am looking forward to that. I have played her before, it was my second gig in the us. I opened for Polish Ambassador so it’s nice to be back as the headliner.

TMN: How do US crowds compare to European crowds for you?

LP: My point of view is slightly skewed because bizarrely I’m actually a lot bigger in the US than in the UK (or Europe generally). I actually don’t play that much back in Europe. Crowds in the US are crazy, you get a really good response and with the last few years electronic music blowing up, it’s amazing to hit some random towns that know what I do.

TMN: Have you have a favorite city to date? Any favorite shows in specific?

LP: Playing Sasquatch was pretty amazing! That was crazy.

TMN: We are obviously huge fans of your work, but we just gotta drive this home. You tend to create musical scenarios that are drenched with emotion. What inspires you to produce a track, is it emotional base, is it technical?

LP: It is more technical, bizarrely enough. I started making music in the computer. I had my dad’s computer and I worked out sampling and he had one of those recorder programs that came free and I would do loops and stuff like that. I always had the technical kind of background. I also do IT on the side too so I am fairly technical. I like what I do and I am always trying to find new sounds to generate new sounds and I use something technical and something odd to create something, and then from there I hone it and make it a full track. It is really a technical part that comes first but I guess you can say my music “emotional charged” but I do like that kind of stuff. It definitely ties in later on in the process.

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