Opinion: Albums That Changed My Life (Eric Lau)
By Simon Daley
Our new series explores albums that have had a profound effect on our team and their relationship to music. First up, our Marketing Manager Simon delves into “New Territories” by Eric Lau and how a chance encounter led to a musical education for years to come.
In the winter of 2007/08 I applied for an internship at a new startup founded by two alumni of my future alma mater. Part of the role involved assisting musicians and teachers at a handful of government funded music courses for under-served youth in London. For myself, still a fresh-faced teenager at this time this was a daunting prospect, but working in music was my sole goal so the opportunity to learn was everything that I’d been asking for. These years were the rise of the in-the-box bedroom producer, where plugins had replaced hardware and the market had been flooded with as many DACs, DAWs and emulators as you could afford. I had converted my parents basement into a makeshift recording studio and had invested my weekend job wages in an AKAI MIDI controller, which was my pride and joy. I had ambition and a strong work ethic, all I was missing was a teacher to help me unlock the secrets of great production. The only producers I was following closely were superstars like Dr. Dre, Timbaland and The Neptunes, who may as well have been aliens given how far away from my reality they seemed.
Starting the internship, my first musician (and course tutor) encounter was the then UK-based DJ and producer Snips, at a workshop in the London borough of Chelsea. During a lunch break one day he asked what music I was listening to, I responded by saying Gangstarr and that I loved that style of production. He asked “oh so you like DJ Premier?”, I replied naively affirming that I liked a lot of Gangstarr’s songs, to which he reeled off a laundry list of other artists that DJ Premier had produced and recommended I check them out. This was the beginning of a slow realization that the pool of Hip-Hop and Rap went much deeper than I’d contemplated and that I had a lot to learn.
Next up for me was a music course led by a tutor named Eric Lau, assisted by singer Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne. I’d never met either before, but both were very welcoming and friendly upon my arrival and in the basement of a youth center we got to work. As had happened with Snips, Eric proceeded to play me some of the music that he had made for the course attendees to work from. My eyes instantly widened… even for someone who’s musical palette was as undeveloped as mine at the time, I could hear the influences of the aforementioned DJ Premier, Pete Rock and other Hip-Hop legends pumping through the speakers. It was like hearing an incredible song on the radio and then your new friend leans in with a humble smile and says “that’s my band playing”. My immediate thought was, “who is this person and why have I never heard their music before today?”
It turned out that Eric Lau was weeks away from releasing his soon-to-be critically acclaimed debut album titled “New Territories”, on Californian record label Ubiquity Recordings. The fourteen song album named after the region of Hong Kong where his family resided, spans Hip-Hop, Soul and everything in between. Fans of Slum Village, early Musiq Soulchild and Erykah Badu would instantly find kinship with the genre-blending nature of the album. This is not to suggest that it’s unfocused or meandering, in fact listening back today every song (regardless of style) bleeds with Lau’s signature sound and comes together to form a cohesive album. With appearances from a host of his close friends like Tawiah, Sarina Leah, Rahel, Annabel and more, the project felt like a family affair to those in the same circles. Upon the first few listens I had grand visions of Abbey Road-esque recording studio sessions with artists mingling and rehearsing their harmonies. This was rather daunting as it was likely again another amazing piece of music created in a different world to mine. Then came the kicker… one afternoon Eric casually mentioned that the album was in fact recorded in his North London apartment and then mixed by himself. Suddenly my dream felt so much more attainable… and yet given the quality of the album, so much farther away at the same time!
The first time I heard then-University-student Rahel sing, was live in person while helping a group of young singers work on their melodies on the first day of the course. I recall mentioning in passing to Eric later that day that her voice was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard. So you can imagine my delight when I later saw that she features on six of the album’s fourteen tracks. A personal highlight among them is “Confession Lounge”, an up-beat mix of booming basslines, thumping drums and raw piano. The track was already familiar to the London scene, where the duo had performed over the years with Lau as DJ and Rahel on live vocals at various parties and events.
Another standout from the album is the song “Time Will Tell”, which features singer Sarina Leah. Led by another infectious bassline played by Jodi Milliner, the song’s delicate vocals and existential lyrics are accompanied by smooth guitars, twinkling keys, and a flute solo from musician Finn Peters. I can still remember the first time I heard the faint crackle of static that is present on the lead-in to this song on my vinyl copy. Squirreled away in the basement for months after school I attempted endlessly to emulate the bass and drum patterns of this song, determined to unlock the secrets to production this slick. Every time I listened to the album (which was more than I care to admit), my understanding of beat making, layering, mixing and songwriting improved… “New Territories” was the teacher I had long been craving!
Towards the album’s conclusion, singers Rahel, Annabel and Sarina Leah team up for the boom-bap fuelled track “Begin”. Boasting Lau’s signature hard-hitting and snappy drums, the trio’s dazzling harmonies permeate through the song as the singers take turns on lead vocals. With so many ingredients in play, Lau proves his mastery of production as lush guitars hover between the foreground and background of the mix and supplementary piano trills provide flourishes that don’t distract from the core elements. Only the most talented producers are able to consistently blend live instrumentation and programmed elements this well without the results feeling jarring, but “New Territories” finds that sweet spot throughout.
A great album is not only defined by the music, but also its relationship to the wider cultural context that it was born out of and how the listener themselves experiences it. For myself, running around London in 2007-2008 meeting new like-minded people, being snuck underage into clubs and discovering historic record stores like Sounds of the Universe and Honest Jon’s was the order of many weekends. “New Territories” to me was the soundtrack to some of my most formative years, it was a roadmap to explore unfamiliar genres and new young artists. Eric’s admiration for the work of J Dilla, The Roots and other musical legends was evident in his production and this album was the gentle push I needed to discover a whole world of music previously unbeknown to me. To say that this album did anything less than change my life would be disingenuous, it both planted the seed, watered it and guided a dream into the light.