Growing up, Lava La Rue would awake on Sunday mornings to their grandmother blasting gospel reggae from the living room. The West London-based musician and visual artist, who is non-binary, took it for the signal it was. “I knew without any words being said, that was her saying it was time to get up, tidy my room and get myself cleaned up and looking appropriate for church,” La Rue tells American Songwriter.
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Even when La Rue—the moniker is an anagram of their birth name Ava Laurel—left their grandmother’s home and spent their teenage years in foster care, music was always there, an intrinsic part of life. It led La Rue to forming NiNE8, a collective of other young artists that soon became family. The British-Jamaican singer found within the group a place to mix their love of words and sounds, and a springboard to curate projects and release music, including their latest EP, Butter-Fly.
Before Butter-Fly’s release, through London-based independent record label, Marathon Artists, La Rue was putting out their take on underground UK hip hop. Their debut single, “Widdit,” was featured on the much-loved music platform Colors and La Rue followed it up with the Letra and Stitches EPs, which collectively have earned millions of streams. Now, La Rue’s shifted to a somewhat more psychedelic sound, a style they affectionately call “queer experimental R&B.”
The title of the new EP, Butter-Fly, was chosen to reflect where La Rue is today. “I really am just having a conversation with the listener about transitioning out of a struggle and spreading my wings despite the climate,” they said. Over whimsical beats and dreamy soundscapes, they drop diary-like verses about independence, affection and intimacy.
La Rue released the queer love song that is “Angel,” as a single, featuring LA-based singer Deb Never. “’Angel’ was a product of me and Isom Innis [of Foster the People] meeting up in L.A. for the first time in November 2019 and just jamming, having the best time making music,” they say. “I wanted to make something that was both of our worlds colliding—my West London steeze with his west coast-inspired production.”
When La Rue returned to L.A., they started becoming friends with Never. “We pretty much chilled for my entire stay there because we saw eye-to-eye. I perfected the song with Isom, then once I went back to London it turned out Deb has moved 2 minutes from me to finish a record so it only made sense for her to hop on the song too.” The song has paved the way for the EP’s release, showcasing the trippy sound and—lyrics La Rue has honed over the past couple of years.
“The rest of my EP was written smoothly in the months to follow in a similar manner,” they say. “Although as the days went on, I was definitely pushing myself more and more to spend more time looking at the musicality and push myself as a vocalist and composer.”
La Rue counts “Lift You Up,” a heart-felt ode to their past and a wish for their future, as their favorite song on the album, because it was the most vulnerable song they’ve written to date.
“I’ve been told most of my songs have an element of dreamy psychedelia fused with like hip hop influences which I can see,” they say. “I feel like in all of my songs the delivery of lyrics are literal—in the way that even if I’m saying something super cryptic, it’s delivered not too differently to how I’d say it if I was sat in front of you just speaking to your face. Every song I’ve written has that level of intimacy.”
Having the backing of a collective like NiNE8 has provided much support through it all. “It came together by a group of like-minded mid/late teens who knew each other through college, events or mutuals and decided to start creating together,” they say. “We’re first and foremost a friendship circle, and its nice to know I’ll always have my gang there if I need anything, from creative resources to great production sessions to just emotional support and good times.”
In a documentary from the Tate Museum that La Rue features in, they share how much their upbringing greatly fostered their love of music and how it can bring people together. “When you do grow up in a ‘British-Jamaican’ culture where music is so part of everyday expression and communication, it becomes very subconscious— when the moments you’re tapping into it really are because it’s just part of everyday life and it’s probably all the time,” they say.
La Rue recalls being younger, while bored and doing the dishes, singing and reciting the same lyrics to themselves that they’d hear their family sing until eventually La Rue would just start making up their own melodies and tunes. “This all has, and still probably does, informed my lyrics and choice of words and look on music too. But its also just a big part of my everyday life which naturally shapes every element of who I am, including the music I make.”
Butter-Fly helps La Rue take flight, onto the next leg of the journey.
Photo credit Jack Cullis
