Today we’ve received a little Trans-Tasman love courtesy of soul songstress Ladi6 and her captivating new Royal Blood 3000 EP.
Coming from Christchurch, the latest release from Ladi6 features the most moving vocal elements of classic R&B, and teams them amicably with warm synths and cues from down-tempo electronica. The results are soothing – a sonic embrace to your earholes which makes Royal Blood 3000 the perfect antidote to this rainy, greyscale Wednesday.
Ladi6 will soon be bringing her live show to Australia for a short run down the East Coast this July. Ahead of the gigs, she’s been kind enough to give us a track-by-track breakdown of the release, revealing some of the intimate inspirations behind her lyrics. Read below, where you’ll also find her touring details – and we’re anticipating a wonderful showing come July. Tickets right here:
1. So Beautiful
The beginnings of this song were actually written as a feature for an American artist who never used the idea. I always loved the idea of what I feel the song is about, which is a type of appreciation track to your lover. A kind of reminder to them about how you feel about them, how you’re gonna protect and look after them, how much you adore them and will do anything for them and that they are your most favourite person in the world. We added this song on as an after-thought really to kinda add bookends to the four middle songs. I gave the lyrics, melody and key to Parks and Brandon and they spent some hours making it into what it became.
2. Guru
This is probably the best reflection of how The Alpha Sessions residencies influenced our EP. It’s completely improvised. While we toyed with the idea of fine-tuning the structure, we in the end decided against it, leaving it almost exactly as it arrived originally to us onstage. I remember I just took these little notes that I’d been kinda meditating on, thinking about music, living this life and what it means to me and what I’ve done over the years – really feeling in so many ways I have achieved my dreams. In order to keep feeling like I’m achieving my dreams I just need to keep assessing what it is I want and going out and getting it, so after some thought for me that became simple, it meant to me just making and releasing music that felt right to me, and that really is as simple as it is. For me, anyway.
3. Royal Blue
The making of this song felt like the right way to me to make a special tribute to my cousin Lily, who the EP is dedicated to, and who was a sister to me in every way. She passed away during this time, and I’ve found the grieving process very difficult even though it’s been a year. I still miss her every day, very, very much. Making this song and imagining her spirit in every colour of the rainbow surrounding everything and everyone helps me with that grief and reminds me that she is still alive in me and in my family, her sisters, her brothers, our cousins and everyone. Nobody ever truly dies. This song has become a real comfort for me, and a grounded energy that I never knew I needed, but will always need and now I have it.
4. Outta Time
This is a shuffle groove that sprung from a version of one of our oldest songs ‘Walk Right Up.’ We liked playing it live so much that we used the same groove and made a new song centred around that feel. Complete nonsense lyrics to be interpreted however you like. This is a new exciting direction for me, and something I always admired in other writers, focusing on melody over literal lyrical interpretation. This song is so much fucking fun to play live!
5. Beffy
We were heavily inspired by the Neilson (Kody and Ruben) brothers, Silicon and Unknown Mortal Orchestra at the time we created this one, and are so fortunate to have Julien on the drums here, he really makes this track. We recorded this in a friend’s home studio in Queenstown, New Zealand, which is one of the most beautiful parts of the world.
6. Long Way
This song came to me out of the blue while Lily was sick and we realised that she was dying. I remember at the time I was asked by the Australian producer Kilter to write a feature with him, and I used this as the chorus to the song I wrote with him. He didn’t use this either and I decided to use it for my own EP because it meant something so important to me. When I hear it even now, even though its been a year it still makes me cry, but it was Parks and Brandon’s idea to repeat the most important message of the song, that even a little bit of love goes a long way.
