Defected’s Ben Lovett chats to Leftroom founder Matt Tolfrey about some of the unique processes involved in creating his forthcoming debut artist album.
“I’m a bit of a motor mouth, I like to express myself” Matt Tolfrey jokingly fires out in justification of the title of his eagerly awaited debut album, Word Of Mouth. “But the title has a lot of meaning. It’s also appropriate because it is through people talking - me included - that my name has gotten around, and that of my label Leftroom. Everything has been gradually building. And then Word Of Mouth relates to the way in which I’ve recorded it. Some of the tracks were written entirely by my mouth.”
Tolfrey, ubiquitous London-based DJ, producer and label owner, isn’t talking about fancy voice-activated pens or hi-tech Dictaphones. His creative process seemingly belongs much further into the future. So the story goes, Tolfrey was searching the internet for interesting alternatives to conventional music production and stumbled across revolutionary software enabling him to translate singing or melodic humming into MIDI notes. In no time at all he had created a backbone, both thematic and structural, for Word Of Mouth.
“It’s amazing. If I have any epiphanies whilst away travelling, or just walking to the shops, I can sing the idea into my phone, play it back to the computer later and watch it turn into something” Tolfrey describes. He must get some strange looks from passers-by, impersonating juggernaut basslines and abstract house chords into his blower?: “I’m just focussing on the idea. My attention span isn’t that long so I need to capture those sudden thoughts there and then.”
They are thoughts that have taken him far in just a few years. Tolfrey started as a DJ in Nottingham during the mid-Noughties, his business degree studies in the city giving way to club beats as bookings increased and industry interest widened. “It was a tough call but I didn’t feel I could delay the DJ career whereas my degree would wait. I’d nearly finished studying, so felt confident about running a business. Hence Leftroom was born.”
The label, launched in 2005, went closely hand-in-hand with Tolfrey’s ever more extensive touring. It has ever been thus, early pivotal releases from Pheek and Marc Ashken building into louder “’Left’-of-centre” house proclamations by Kate Simko, Jay Haze and Laura Jones, all whilst Tolfrey’s travels have stretched further away from his uni turf – Sankeys in Ibiza through to Electric Pickle in Miami and everywhere in between.
“The label works for me, and I work for the label. The secret has always been good taste and hard, hard work” he explains. “There are big records I could have signed to Leftroom, and different, arguably more lucrative directions I could have taken some of my own records in but I needed to stick to what I liked and would play out. Both the label and I have grown gradually... organically. There have been no sudden changes, and that has given us the foundation for things today.”
Back to Word Of Mouth, does Tolfrey feel any kind of musical inadequacy in resorting to hands-free, digitally assisted composition? Is there any underlying resentment about short-cutting traditional instrumentation and songcraft? “Not at all; things keep moving on right across the music industry, so it’s right to be using technology so long as it supports your ideas. As I say, I can’t focus for long in the studio so I need to find the ways to best use my time. Technology helps; it can be exciting. Some of the best dance records ever have been made in less than half-a-day.The longer I dwell on something... the more I try and embellish it, then I end up with more problems and frustrations. I like to keep things simple.”
Then again Word Of Mouth offers far more than software trickery. Smart use of guest vocals for one: “I haven’t used the voice software on every track. The biggest focus is on vocals, which is another reason why the album is called what it is. It was a major honour having people like Marshall Jefferson and Ya Kid K [of Technotronic fame] sing on this record. Each singer adds something different; they’ve all helped give the album a unique personality.”
Tolfrey’s considered but efficient arrangement of vocals, melodies and a multitude of deep rhythms - 4-4 and broken – should stand him in good stead on international dancefloors come Word Of Mouth’s release. Is he scared, this being uncharted career territory?
“I do read reviews but I don’t take too much from them. I don’t let it happen. I just focus on my job” Tolfrey explains. “Ultimately, you don’t know how a record will go down. I’ve released solo material before and despite the reactions you get from playing promos in clubs you don’t really know how something will do upon release. Sometimes the B-sides are king; other times it’s the main track. Because of that I don’t think there’s much point in getting nervous. I want the new album to do well but I can’t do anything more. I’ll just have to wait and see.”
Tolfrey’s composure is commendable, but will be tested to the limit over the coming months. His own biographical materials acknowledge 2012 as a pivotal year; aside from debut albums there have been high-profile Ibiza residencies at Sankeys, more emphatically-received releases on Leftroom and an ongoing surge of DJ bookings around the world. This autumn Tolfrey plays Tokyo for the first time in years; and there will be regular stopovers in places he has never been – Denver for one, which is remarkable considering how much of a stomping ground America represents for him. Tolfrey continues to break new ground, geographically and artistically. Thus there will be outside expectations to make 2013even bigger and better – can he handle that?
“I have very little time to think beyond the immediate gigs I’m playing and music I’m releasing” he says. “I keep going, keep pushing myself onto the next thing. Maybe at the end of the year, when promotion around the album has quietened down, I will weigh up what I’ve achieved but I don’t think that will destabilise me. I have built things up slowly and carefully, according to my tastes, and that pattern won’t change.”
Tolfrey, 31, is also more than mindful of the fact that he’s getting married next year. One of life’s key milestones is already keeping him plenty busy, and helping put the music further into perspective. “I think proposing is more ballsy than anything I might do in music” he suggests. “Getting down on one knee is my biggest achievement so far. It’s a challenge to juggle this career with a home life, but looking ahead I will want to settle a little more and have a family. That’s a big thing to commit too in this space.”
Tolfrey’s musical future will involve, imminently, more American tour dates for Word Of Mouth (he’s currently in San Francisco) and a string of new Leftroom releases. How is he finding the former?: “The tour has been brilliant; all over the States, a place I love. It has taken time to build a profile here; you have to keep working at it, and that actually puts a lot of DJs off - you can’t just have hit records in Europe and then expect to get noticed in America. But I always felt there were some great crowds there and that establishing myself in America would reinforce Leftroom and my own path.
“It’s ballsy to think that America is only just discovering electronic music. Sure, places like Chicago and Detroit invented it and then it blossomed overseas, but despite the fact pop artists like Rihanna are now ditching backbeats for 4-4, America has always had a healthy electronic scene... on the East Coast, the West, all over. I absolutely love coming here, and I wouldn’t keep coming back if the scene wasn’t expanding.”
And what more can he divulge in terms of Leftroom? “We’ll be moving more into albums and compilations, like the one Laura Jones released earlier this year [Leftroom Presents... Laura Jones]. I think that’s what labels do when they mature don’t they? Leftroom is seven years’ old; it’s like a young child wanting to stretch its legs now. I still A&R and handle all the decisions on artwork and design, but there are other people there to sort the admin these days. Leftroom has definitely become more of a machine.”
But not one, it seems, too big for its boots. Leftroom is not the kind of over-confident, pretentious enterprise that insists it can sit back on its current close-knit roster of artists and eek out style-high grooves without heart or substance. “I don’t ever want Leftroom to be a trendy label,” Tolfrey states. “We’re about good music for the sake of good music. We will continue to operate in the same accessible way we always have; if there are new artists out there that sit well with what we do, then we’ll consider working with them. We’re not closed off.”
Leftroom, and Tolfrey’s rise comes at a time when other similarly-vibed underground labels such as Crosstown Rebels and Visionquest are also significantly raising their clubland profiles. There are several meaningful friendships across these various set-ups, all expressing cohesive ideas for the dancefloor and laying down solid markers on what, today, it should sound like. Such unity does tempt pigeon-holes and extensive labelling. Are we hearing a quirk-house revolution or just plain ridiculous media hyperbole?
“The latter” Tolfrey chuckles; “we’re a group of friends across several labels which, naturally, means we share the same belief in tasteful underground house. We go about achieving that in different ways but there are some similar threads – I mean, I would happily sign some of the tracks Crosstown or Visionquest puts out – which is where the wider talk about movements probably comes in. It’s a compliment, all this, but nothing more than tasteful coincidence. I have my own ambitions which hopefully you’ll hear achieved in the coming years dude.”
Words: Ben Lovett
Matt Tolfrey releases debut album Word Of Mouth on October 15, on Leftroom Records.
Tolfrey plays London Electronic Presents...Word of Mouth Tour Finale alongside Lee Curtiss, Kate Simko & Guests, Friday 1st Feb at Loft Studios
