La+ch Emerges Into the Spotlight with His Debut Album ‘+’

La+ch is a multi-instrumentalist whose debut album, +, drops later this month. After listening to his catchy rhythms, vocals, and loopy progressions, it felt only natural to see how his kingdom of eccentricity has been formed.

On the way through the dissection we learn about his early beginnings and drummer mentality, his adoration of Ellie Goulding, his role in the artist collective, sideways, and how he can't get enough Sola.

+ features 11 songs that flirt with a vibe similar to that of Chromeo, smooching the disco and the funk with some key classical underpinnings. Songs like "California," "Nights," "Crave," "Tidal Wave," and his freshly dropped track, "Free Fall," all highlight La+ch's dedication to bizarre time signatures. Dub it electronic music and notice the ingenuity, but above all, expect to hear something a bit rough around the edges.

"My music is more of a grower. I feel like the more you listen to it the more cohesive it becomes. Then again I'm not sure, for some it might be a little too weird for them," he explains.

Growing up with a passion for drumming (he sold his hockey equipment to buy a drum kit), a like of bands such as Dream Theater and artists like Ellie Goulding, navigating the dance realm with the world of songwriting and beat making occurred quite naturally, organically if you will.

"I've always been someone that produces for a lot of different artists and then just started singing myself, and you'll typically hear drum machines throughout each song, I love 808's. I mean I don't have the best voice, but it's my own weirdness from life. I'm not trying to be Mariah Carey-ish or do pop music, it's really just my own personal musical expression. To be honest I didn't even plan to put an album out, again, it just happened."

La+ch's fondness for unpredictable song formation and non-linear sounds has been harnessed through the Sideways collective, which includes like-minded collaborators Michah, Coleman Hell, and Shan Vincent de Paul. Also, with the aid of social media, his reach remains boundless.

"I find the market is over saturated in a way because there is so much out there, blogs, internet, and music in general, but it's also good because you can get your stuff out there. For example, "You Are My Summer," got like over six million plays on Spotify and it's cool when you see people reacting to your work and whether it is over saturated or 'I need to get my Twitter followers up' or whatever, to see people caring about your stuff is very cool and yet still no one really knows who you are. I've kept that part pretty quiet—you don't see a lot of my face in photos."

Citing bands like The Mars Volta, The Used, and drummers like Buddy Rich as inspirations, La+ch appreciates the expansive and progressive, however, he tried to be more "minimal" on the record, and did so with the help of bottles of Sola, of course.

"Every song that was made was done with a couple of bottles of Sola. When I get drinking I get super emotional and then I start to sing, that's literally what I did. You get to this weird crying point and then you just try and get there, and get the emotion out of your throat. A lot of people say I have trouble communicating, I guess I'm not the best talker, but with music that's kind of how I get it out. It's not really emo of me or anything though, but I really try to speak about my dreams and life."

Having just performed at JUNOfest with an upcoming gig during Bestival this June, and a new video for "Tastey," La+ch and his partners in crime are taking their careers more into the spotlight, a notion that he somewhat battles with.

"It's different for me to be out front now, I was so used to being behind the scenes or drumming. Sometimes I do feel weird being upfront and my drummer's mind can get mad at my singer's mind, still though, being on stage trumps anything."

La+ch also cites his connection with Coleman Hell, whose track, "2 Heads" has already garnered a couple million plays on Spotify since its release in February. The partnership between La+ch and Coleman Hell is as important as his solo venture, as that's where the production work began.

"Coleman Hell is basically my brother, I was making beats for him for like three years and I still am. He is a crazy lyricist and singer, so talented. It's cool because we come together and work but at the same time have our stuff on the side. All of us that are part of sideways breathe music, art, videos, the works."

+ is available on March 31 and you can pre-order the record here and receive a couple freebies by doing so. Do yourself a favour, give it a listen and let yourself go into cruise control.

LA+CH is on Facebook // Twitter // SoundCloud

Kathryn Kyte is on Twitter.