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A TAV Curator’s Pick.

Southport-raised, London-based singer, songwriter and producer Holly ‘Låpsley’ Fletcher today reveals details of her highly-anticipated debut album. The 19 year old will release Long Way Home on Friday 4th March on XL Recordings. The twelve track album features new versions of her previous acclaimed releases ‘Hurt Me’, ‘Falling Short’, ‘Painter’ and ‘Station’, as well as brand new single ‘Love Is Blind’ ‘Love Is Blind’ was premiered last night as Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record’ on BBC Radio 1.

Long Way Home documents a turbulent time in Låpsley’s life — a period in which she revelled in her new-found music career as it took her from Liverpool to London to Los Angeles and back again “It’s an autobiography of my emotions and events over the past year,” she says. “Everything that’s happened, I’ve channelled in some way into a song – whether that’s the theme of a long distance relationship, or something that he’s said, or the way that I’ve felt, or an argument. I only revisit the memories of that relationship when I go into the studio. I think it’s helped me, to be able to collect everything for those moments when I’m writing. I think that’s what’s driven this album.” Låpsley’s determined views on her own production have ensured her involvement in every element of these songs — a fact that in the early days seemed to confuse many of the producers she met. “They didn’t want to listen to me,” she says, “or they think a girl’s just there to add a top line, or they come to the table with ideas already. Straight away if I come in to a studio and someone says ‘I’ve written something for you’, then I’ll just walk out. I don’t care. I’m not there for that.”

For the bulk of Long Way Home she worked with XL’s in-house producer Rodaidh McDonald. “This album wouldn’t be how it is if it wasn’t for Rodaidh,” she says. “He’s at the top of the thank yous.” There were two tracks recorded with Paul O’Duffy, a producer she admired because “The way that he thinks is different to anybody else. He’s not tainted by a commercial idea, it’s so creative and beautiful and what I aspire to be like in the future.” She worked with Mura Masa for the album’s closing track, a song that gave the record its title. “That lyric about taking the long way home just sums up the relationship,” she says. “It has two different meanings: the album’s about a long distance relationship, but also if you walk the long way home with someone you’re trying to spend as much time as you can with them.” – Press Release

“There’s a dark, roiling hue to the pop sensibilities of Holly Låpsley Fletcher that hooked us in when we first heard her debut album Long Way Home. While her vocal & melodic prowess have the right ingredients for the next big pop star, the minimalist electronic underpinnings push her left of center in just the right way, keeping the listener from ever being able to completely pin her down. At 19, Låpsley has produced an album far beyond her years & one we’ll be quick to spin again and again.” – Vinyl Me, Please

“Exploring is a good word for a lot of what Låpsley does across these 12 tracks, and her most fascinating discoveries come when she pairs organic sounds with the aggressively synthetic soundscapes normally associated with electronic music. A stream of modulated sounds bubbles beneath the surface of “Hurt Me”, a piano-driven breakup ballad that would fall squarely into Adele territory if it weren’t for all the production flourishes. Låpsley defamiliarizes this particular variation of pop song just enough to infuse it with a renewed freshness. “I’m putting on a brave face to meet you in the same place,” she sings to her ex-lover, but she might as well be talking about her approach to songcraft. By making riskier, more challenging choices in her role as producer, she still arrives at the same place — and yet it feels undeniably different.” – Consequence of Sound

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