Lapalux
The brainchild of Stuart Howard, Lapalux signed to Brainfeeder in 2011. With the label acting as a natural home for his intuitive experimental approach, the producer has had free rein over his career. Painstakingly assembled, Howards’ debut album Nostalchic was based on a patchwork of generic textures, accentuated by swirling melodic atmospheres and abstract beats.
Fuelled by emotive introspection, subsequent releases have added further layers to Howard’s sound, and since delving into the modular realm he’s been able to move closer to realising his conceptual ideas. The latest Lapalux album Amnioverse is a beautifully realised homage to the work of US light artist James Turrel, constructed from Howard’s ever-expanding Eurorack setup.
What attracted you to creating abstract electronic music above other forms?
“I’ve always gravitated towards very textural music concrète and found experimentation in sound and how layers work together interesting. I used to overdub a lot of guitar stuff on a really primitive Cubase setup. I’d record on a little microphone, loop it in Cubase and start recording over that until I had these ambient textural guitars with 30 tracks of audio mixed into one. I’m fascinated by manipulating audio to a degree where it’s unrecognisable as an instrument, and to this day try to make and blend sounds in unorthodox ways.”
Was there a template for the sound you made?
“There was this one guy called Dorine Muraille who released an album on Fat Cat Records in 2001 called Mani. Even now I feel very lovingly towards that album. It’s very sacred to me because it triggered everything I do and how I approach making music. There are a million samples on the album, but because of the way it’s put together, there are no distinguishing beats. It’s just really beautiful and all the textures work really well together.”
No inclination to be commercially successful in the more traditional sense?
“That’s a tough one to navigate. I was lucky that reasonably early in my career I was making enough money to move out of home, but even
