The Artist Explains: Lokoy - 'Baby Blue'
Emerging Norwegian artist Lokoy’s new single ‘Baby Blue’ proves to us he deserves the buzz that surrounds him at the moment. The track sees him pairing up with Safario, to create a spaced out hip-hop vibe with the track.
Your track ‘Baby Blue’ is out now, what is the track about? What are the inspirations behind it?
The lyrics of this song are really abstract in my opinion. It was mostly just me and Kacper in a stream of consciousness. The musical inspirations are drawn from Tyler, the Creator. Specifically I remember listening to "Boredom" and being like: wow, I have to make drums that sounds like that. I made the chords of the song on my piano in my childhood home during summer vacation, but most of the sounds, except the guitar, trumpets and vocals are just digital samples and digital synths.
Where was the track recorded? Any behind the scenes stories?
We recorded the vocals and trumpet in the evening at a studio in Oslo after a session with Sløtface. The trumpet is played by Safario, and it sounded really bad, but it's amazing what auto tune can do these days. The guitar player is Simen Følstad Nilsen - his band Aiming For Enrike (which is a duo, with guitar and drums only) are one of my favourite bands. And he's such an original and exciting guitar player. Check them out: open.spotify.com/artist/78pR36HrjrFVIml89h1y4v?si=OFw9490pQ0iNVLS7UpSTlQ
We recorded the guitars at there studio a couple of weeks before me and Kacper recorded the vocals.
It sees you pairing up with Safario on the track, how did that partnership come about?
We met at the Norwegian festival Slottsfjell. He and Marie Ulven (girl in red) went to the same school. And he had heard the song me and Marie did together, so we spoke a bit at the festival and at the hotel breakfast and decided to try to have a session together. He's such a nice guy and it's so much fun each time we make music together.
There is a B side to the track called ‘Fluffy Clouds’, how do you decide if a track should become a ‘B Side’? Also what is the track about?
I kind of felt that it made sense. Both of the songs have jazzy chords, both have the same drum-samples, and both have really abstract lyrics. I think 'Fluffy Clouds' is about idealising things that are far away. Like the clouds will always be majestic because we can only see them from a far distance, (cause when we get too close the clouds stop appearing like clouds)
Now the single is out, what next? What are you plans for the next few months?
Me and Kacper have more material waiting and I'm currently finishing my bachelor degree in literature. Also, Sløtface are releasing the first single of our new album in a week :O and we're having a release party in London!