Today we are thrilled to be introducing you to a self-produced grime artist L E M F R E C K who got our attention with the release of the latest single ‘Falling’. He used to sing Prince and Stevie Wonder and now he can easily recite all the lyrics to Skepta.
Story telling is extremely important for L E M F R E C K and we got totally hooked on his music. No wonder that BBC Music Introducing announced him as one of the artists that should be on your radar in 2021.
Congratulations on your latest release! Tell us about the journey until the moment ‘Falling’ saw the light of day!
Thank you! It wasn’t meant to be the first track this year, but after I sent it to my team everyone said we needed to drop it ASAP. Started as a melody in my head and I just couldn’t get rid of it, I was in bed humming it, so I got up and just started writing knowing I had a meeting at 9 am haha. Think I ended up sleeping at 4AM.
What does ‘Falling’ mean to you?
It’s that moment where you’re at a point in life where you think, I could fall in love here. Originally I started writing it as a love song but then realised it’s more a love yourself.
2020 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, yet you continued to write and release music. Did the lockdown have an impact on how you create music?
I don’t think I’d have got through it all as well as I did if it wasn’t for writing music. I crammed my time with creating and just being a better musician. I went through and counted everything I made in the past year and it was something like 60 songs. I’m so lucky that I had that feel so much for people who didn’t.
How did you manage the lockdown? What kept you sane?
Haha, sane? What’s that? Outside of music I was working on myself a lot just one of those clarity things. Developing where I want to be and who I want to be as a person.
I’m inspired by how things make you feel
L E M F R E C K
Do you remember the moment you decided that music is what you want to do?
I do, I was dragged to a Stevie Wonder concert for my mums birthday and I really didn’t want to go because my boys were playing football that day. Anyway it was the most incredible thing. I could play instruments already but it was that moment I knew that was the only thing I ever wanted to do. Yeah, there have been moments since then when I thought this isn’t for me, but that moment is consistent.
Tell us more about your creative process? How do songs come to you?
I listen to so much music. I’m a fan of everything, so I’m inspired by how things make you feel. I’ve always wanted to be an artist that makes people feel things. So I’d say that’s where it begins and ends, how do I want people to feel.
Music to me is the most important thing on earth. Without it, we are thoughtless.
L E M F R E C K
What would you like to be remembered for?
Innovation, doing something different and being different. My favourite artists are those that changed the game and I would love that.
What does success mean to you?
This is a hard question, but I was talking about it to someone the other day and it has to be belonging to something bigger than myself.
Producing music at the local church where your dad was a pastor must have been quite an experience. What was the fondest memory from that time?
To be honest I hated it at the time. But now I’m so happy that was a part of my life. We were from an area that wasn’t necessarily nice and if my time wasn’t full of making music with some incredible musicians I’d probably have been out making more trouble than I was. My fondest memory has to be the day the musicians from the church were invited to support a big artist in London. I had to play the drums for a song or two. I just remember thinking this is the greatest musical moment I’ll ever be a part of. Little did I know it wasn’t.
What artists shaped your music world?
I grew up on grime I’m a hardcore grime guy. So Kano Chip Skepta I can recite verses like it’s nothing. But I listen to everything and always have. So I say my strongest influences came from Jai Paul, Frank Ocean, Kanye, Prince and Gospel like Fred Hammond.
Do you have a song that when you hear, you’d be ‘Damn I wish I’d written that’.
I HAVE SO MANY! But there’s a track by Ruthven — Hypothalamus or Jasmine by Jai Paul. I have a Playlist called F**k Sake I wish I wrote this.
Close your eyes. Imagine it’s 20th of January 2022. How would you summarize 2021?
A Year of GROWTH.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience?
Just keep pushing on. If it’s for you, it will happen.
Make sure to connect with L E M F R E C K
Introducing » Artists We Interviewed
This coverage was created in collaboration with Musosoup as part of the #SustainableCurator movement.
