INTERVIEW | MEET LONDON’S RISING INDIE-RNB ARTIST LATIR

By Rishma Dhaliwal • On Interviews

Image from @princelatir Instagram

We speak to Latir, the Lon­don-based alt indie-RnB artist. Latir dis­cusses his latest single ‘Before Sun­set’, his  cre­at­ive pro­cess, inspir­a­tions, and col­lab­or­a­tions with oth­er artists. We also delved into the themes behind his latest singles and upcom­ing EP, and dis­cussed how his music aims to help listen­ers nav­ig­ate their own rela­tion­ships and emo­tions. Join us as we explore the mind of this rising star and learn more about his jour­ney as a musician.

How did grow­ing up in Lon­don influ­ence your avant-garde style and unique blend of genres?

Lon­don­ers who’ve grown up here all carry with­in them­selves a sense of pride, know­ing this is one of the greatest cit­ies in the world (espe­cially in the sum­mer)… There will always be a chip of pride on my shoulder grow­ing up here which lends to my pre­ferred avant-garde style in pro­duc­tion. The blend in cul­tures exper­i­enced grow­ing up in such a diverse city reflects in how I like to blend genres… This along with my jazz, clas­sic­al and hiphop influ­ences grow­ing up in choirs and bands.

Your music can be described as “nos­tal­gic” and “mel­an­chol­ic”. What are your inspirations?

My inspir­a­tions are all things dreamy, rich pink and purple sun­sets, moments that feel infin­ite, jazzy, slow and drunk­en chord pat­terns, heavy Hip Hop led repet­it­ive drum loops and soul­ful samples com­bined with clas­sic feel­ing melod­ies and all things timeless.

Your latest singles have been praised for their uplift­ing melod­ies and thought­ful lyr­ics. Can you tell us about your cre­at­ive pro­cess when it comes to writ­ing and pro­du­cing music?

Writ­ing has always come nat­ur­ally, it star­ted with poetry as a teen and this trans­lated into melody going into my 20’s… My pro­cess is organ­ic and everything is from scratch and from the heart.

You’ve worked with a vari­ety of artists in the past, from Tokio Myers to Krept & Kon­an. How has col­lab­or­at­ing with oth­ers influ­enced your own artistry?

Col­lab­or­at­ing with oth­ers who are great artists in their own right is always inspir­ing… From learn­ing their tech­niques to see­ing things from their per­spect­ives, know­ing oth­er people’s ‘why’ will always broaden my cre­at­ive palette, its a beau­ti­ful thing.

As an artist who draws inspir­a­tion from fash­ion and live per­form­ance, what can fans expect from your upcom­ing head­line show in London?

A whole lot of avant garde, beau­ti­ful clas­sic feel­ing moments, and me pour­ing my heart out on stage.

Your music often explores themes of love and heart­break. How do you hope your music can help listen­ers nav­ig­ate their own rela­tion­ships and emotions?

I’ve always writ­ten as vul­ner­ably, openly and hon­estly as I can… Know­ing that we all go through sim­il­ar situ­ations of the heart. Music is a tool which can be used to fix and enhance many things. I only release that which I feel as though truly cap­tures the feel­ing I’m try­ing to con­vey… The best I can cap­ture it, hope­fully the more people will relate.

Tell us about your latest single ‘Before Sunset’?

I hardly write love songs these days but hon­estly it was winter when we made this song (2022) and after watch­ing the Before Sun­rise sequel, I was so inspired by the dia­logue and the moments they spent dis­cuss­ing life’s many ques­tions… but all from such a youth­ful, wist­ful place (at least in the first two movies ha). I wanted to cre­ate some­thing highly infatu­ated by all things love, heav­ily infused by past memor­ies spent in moment­ary golden hour highs. I hope that those who are feel­ing lost, enchanted & enam­oured in a moment of golden hour bliss, are able to play this song, and that it serves as a fit­ting back­drop to their most del­ic­ate, golden hour type moments!

I cre­ated this with now long term col­lab­or­at­or & friend Tev’n, we both enjoy and res­on­ate with sim­il­ar chords and drums, and so this feel­ing came nat­ur­ally once the idea star­ted to form… This was a very fun one to cre­ate — hope­fully the energy in the track is show­ing of this!

How do you incor­por­ate live instru­ments in the track?

These are all live instru­ment samples/hit samples we used to cre­ate our own vibe… I’m a big fan of blend­ing live and elec­tron­ic sounds and so we tried to push the live drums as much as we could so they were hard hit­ting, along with the dreamy, elec­tron­ic synths serving as the oth­er main driv­ing force behind the song itself.

What can we expect to hear on your upcom­ing EP?

My upcom­ing pro­ject feels just as time­less as one could hope… Expect a whole lot of clas­sic feels — served to you in true Latir style.

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Rishma Dhaliwal

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

About Rishma Dhaliwal

Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless. Currently working in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media knowledge to I am Hip Hop and other projects by No Bounds.