“Making a list like this is not really my favourite thing, because there’s a lot that gets left behind,” says experimental pop polymath Lafawndah over a call from Paris.
This makes sense – she was born in France with Iranian and Egyptian heritage, and has lived in various countries. If you listen to any of her work, it pulls from so many different sounds, so many different parts of the world, that to definitively list influences and loves would be to do at least a dozen scenes and sounds a disservice. Indeed, we’re speaking because she’s just been part of PRSNT, an album project of artists from across the world including Laurie Spiegel and Ryuichi Sakamoto, for which her track ‘ THE SUPER LADY FROM NAMELESS-TOWN’ blends all number of global sonics. Hear an exclusive first play below.
Her Baker’s Dozen covers albums, singles and compilations – everything from Schubert to Ace of Base to Busta Rhymes, via Midori Takada. She explains that “There’s a lot of childhood in this list – pillars from my childhood. What music raised questions, or excitement or curiosity for me? What made me want to make music, made me want to say things? Between my family history and moving around a lot, my map looked a little different growing up, and there weren’t artists that I could immediately identify with. So it’s music that makes me feel less alone, music that let’s me see all the other freaks in their corners.”
She talks about songs as fathers and mothers she has found along the way of her musical journey. In some ways, then, Lafawndah’s Baker’s Dozen is a non-comprehensive list of her family.
Lafawndah appears on the compilation PRSNT alongside the likes of Laurie Spiegel, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Lyra Pramuk and more, which is released on May 7 via Modern Obscure music and can be pre-ordered here.
Click the image of Lafawndah below to begin reading her Baker’s Dozen.
