Laroie Transforms and Reinvigorates the Underground on Latest EP Tragedy
Photo Credit: le temps d’une marche
Laroie, the moniker of Gab Godon, is a Montreal based singer-songwriter who’s flourishing career has inspired all eyes on her as we anticipate her next music moves. The latest grooves she revealed was her EP Tragedy back in March. We sat down with the emerging artist during OSHEAGA’s 2023 edition of the festival to hear about her experiences performing on the Montreal circuit, where she’s headed off to next, and the evolution of Laroie.
REVERIE: How would you describe your sound?
Laroie: My sound is definitely in the electronic world. Very RnB, with some dance, house, downtempo influences. A bit of trip hop sometimes. I like old school feels.
R: You seem to be a multi-disciplinary artist and fluid when it comes to genre. What inspires you to pull from so many different sounds?
L: I just love to incorporate all of my inspirations and influences in my music. They all have different backgrounds and a lot of the producers I work with and that I’m drawn to are thriving in the underground techno/deep house realm. I’m more RnB and pop, so I like mixing all of those textures together and I’m a huge fan of RnB from the late 90’s-early 2000’s. Same for dance music. “Show Me Love” by Robin S. and Sandeville was life changing for me. The blending of soul and dance music is something that has always attracted me and I like to play with it. But it does touch different universes that may not be combined normally.
R: Yes! You do a stellar job of evoking an emotional response. You recently released a new EP called Tragedy - what’s the background of this project?
L: Tragedy is RnB with downtempo house/dance influences. We really feel the soul in that project. It’s a personal piece of work where I’m sort of realigning with myself through my writing and the process of finding my way to integrity. All of that coming together brought it to life, mixed and shaken in a box and voila.
R: How has the reception been so far?
L: It’s been amazing! I’m really happy with the turn out. I’ve been going to the UK a lot, specifically London, to explore my music there because I feel like the electronic scene there is much bigger and the response has been positive. It’s just the beginning of a much bigger adventure and I’ve found a sound I want to play with and explore and grow.
R: Being from Montreal - has community played a role for you here during your journey as an artist?
L: Home is amazing. I love playing in Montreal and all the summer festival’s that we have in the city and in different places throughout Quebec. It’s a treat and I’ve had the chance to perform at those events. I still feel like I’m working very hard as an independent artist to be heard and seen. I’m always searching for platforms to share my music with more people and be heard by a broader audience. But I feel like the electronic scene is smaller here and that’s okay. I love discovering the underground artists and producers here at home and there’s a lot of little communities building their own momentum. I love cruising through all of those communities and discovering them and meeting new people. But I’m at a point where I want to see results and maybe I need a bigger pool to go and swim in.
It’s also kind of a cliche in Montreal and Canada - a lot of artists who might be doing things a bit differently or checking boxes that we are used to with artists and music we listen to here that will get recognized elsewhere and then we are like “oh, she’s from here”! And then we realize that if they are listening to artists in Europe or the States then maybe we should give it a try too. I hope one day this changes and people who work in the industry - labels, programmers, production teams, whatever - are not scared to take some risks and go for it. I feel like there’s other places in the world that are exploring more niche sounds and the deconstructed is celebrated and received in awe. I don’t feel that necessarily as much as I would like to here. So instead of trying to control something, at the end of the day I can’t really control, and putting a lot of resources and time and energy where I may not see the full potential - I explore.
But again, it’s such an honour to play at OSHEAGA and I’ve had the chance to play at some of our bigger festivals and I do see that it makes a difference in changing the culture. I used to do more hip hop and there’s this box of hip hip in Montreal and Canada that is super cool. But electronic RnB is still making it’s way up there and I’m proud to be an artist making my way up there, but I’m not scared to take some big leaps of faith. So I’m going back to the UK because I’m really on a mission - doing a writing camp in London, booking as many sessions as possible with artist’s and producers there, spending a week in Paris because I’m trying to plant seeds for my first debut album, make new connections, and expand a little. I’m in a big creation mindset for the upcoming months.
R: Even touring and leaving Montreal can be very difficult. But you’re very humble about all of this - your EP is popping off and I see it all the way here in Alberta! Being at OSHEAGA, people travel from all over the world to see new acts. Are there any songs that you are looking forward to sharing?
L: I want to work on not creating SO much, I have to pace myself. I have a bunch of music that you can check out right now and I don’t want to pressure myself into new debuts. But I’m excited to share this beautiful EP that I put out not even 6 months ago and “Tragedy” - the focus track of the EP - is very special for me to perform. I’m really vulnerable and the song gets me in the zone. It gives me goosebumps because I’m singing the words that helped me move through stuff that was not easy to move through and that makes me proud. It’s so many feelings and emotions. The whole EP comes from such a special place and it’s nice to share it. Some songs from Speed of Life as well, I always keep it fun and light and very charged with emotion. It’s not heavy, it’s beautiful.