Light Places

“When it came to my debut album, I wanted to give more musicality to the songs—to make B-sides as well as bangers,” LP Giobbi (aka Leah Chisholm) tells Apple Music. “It’s a record dedicated to my parents, who showed me the power of music to spread love and joy.” On *Light Places*, the Oregon-born, LA-based DJ/producer weaves her influences with a remarkable dexterity and depth, mixing the liberating vibes of the Grateful Dead—you’ll often see her performing in tie-dye—with dazzling piano and house thump. After studying jazz at UC Berkeley, Giobbi released her debut single in 2018 and has since become renowned for her shows, which combine DJing with the emotive melodies of her live instrumentation. Supporting the likes of duo Sofi Tukker, Fatboy Slim, and Pete Tong, Giobbi has become a staple on the world’s largest dance floors while also pushing for greater gender parity with her mentoring organization Femme House. Here, she talks through how the songs on her first LP came to be. **“Intro: Mother”** “When I’m warming up on the piano, I always play ‘Peace Piece’ by Bill Evans as it’s such a beautiful composition and only two chords. I was in the studio playing around one day and recorded this warm-up, which immediately felt like the perfect intro for the album. It puts the piano front and center, and sets the tone for the album being songs that aren’t all written for the dance floor.” **“If Love Is a Skill” (feat. Sofi Tukker)** “It’s only right that Sofi Tukker open and close the record with their two features as they are the people who first believed in me and released my earliest music. I opened for them on their debut US headline tour and pretty much learned to DJ by playing in front of their crowds night after night. We were in the studio, working on something that wasn’t quite coming together, and so I played them the instrumental for ‘If Love Is a Skill,’ and Sophie was so inspired, she grabbed my iPhone and sang this vocal straight into the mic. It was flowing out of her, and that became the track.” **“Can’t Let You Go” (feat. Little Jet)** “I’m a jam-band kid, so I love working with groups and people outside of the dance space. Little Jet is this great psych-rock band from LA who I wanted to collaborate with, and I ended up sending them this instrumental, the first tune I’d written that wasn’t 120 BPM or above. We went back and forth working on this track, and it was a real joy creating something new.” **“All I Need (Interlude)”** “I had just finished a tour in Mexico, and I celebrated with my tour manager by taking a boat out and having a little party. The next day, he got a voice note from his grandma Shirley congratulating him, and it was just the sweetest thing I’d ever heard. I knew I had to get it on the record and build a whole song around it.” **“All I Need”** “The main song is me just trying to do justice to the mood and feeling of Shirley’s voice. I also added in a vocal sample that I fell in love with from my publishing group’s audio library. I wrote around those two influences, and the title just came simply from the words that the sample repeats.” **“Another Life” (feat. Caroline Byrne)** “I discovered Caroline through Femme House when I was asked to mentor her. At the end of our session, she asked if she could share some demos, and they were incredible. I knew we had to work together, and she ended up sending me this vocal idea, which formed the basis for ‘Another Life.’ It was the hardest song on the record to finish because it could have gone in so many different directions—it could be a huge pop song, but I settled on the middle ground. I hope it gets a good remix!” **“Georgia”** “I dreamt that I was jamming with Jimi Hendrix, and he was ripping a guitar solo over these tom fills. I knew I had to pursue the idea when I woke up, so I recorded a drummer in LA and then paired a great bassline with it, as no one else can play like Jimi. The title comes from the chorus of Justin Bieber’s ‘Peaches’ because I was listening to it on the way to the studio.” **“Follow the Loop” (feat. Le Chev)** “I was asked to work on a Grateful Dead remix project and even played some of their after-parties on tour, which was an insane experience. The remix was a great way to fit guitars into dance music, and for this track, I started with one note from a Grateful Dead guitar line and repitched it and replaced it until this loop happened, which I just couldn’t stop playing and following through the song.” **“Feels Just Like it” (feat. Caroline Byrne)** “The strings for this track came from a remix I submitted for an artist that didn’t end up being used. I knew they would work so well with a singer, so I reached out to Caroline again and, amazingly, within an hour she’d come up with the vocal that you hear on the track. Her lyrics of ‘This isn’t love, but it feels just like it’ really touched me, and it all came together really quickly after that.” **“Body Breathe” (feat. Monogem)** “‘Body Breathe’ was one of the earliest tracks I wrote, since it started in a pre-pandemic session. I was warming up with ‘Peace Piece’ again when Monogem walked into the studio and recognized it straight away. She started humming along and just came up with this vocal alongside—we ended up shifting the chords, and it became ‘Body Breathe.’” **“All in a Dream” (feat. DJ Tennis & Joseph Ashworth)** “This track set the tone for the entire record. I was DJing a festival just after the pandemic, and there were very few people in the crowd, since the headliner had already finished, so I decided to test out my new ideas on the sound system, including the instrumental for ‘All in a Dream.’ It turns out DJ Tennis was listening, and he reached out to say that he loved what I played. We ended up getting into the studio the next day and recorded a live drummer on the track, as well as running everything through vintage synths—it was really collaborative and opened up my writing massively.” **“All My Life” (feat. Sofi Tukker)** “Sofi Tukker are my most trusted allies, and when I was playing them the potential tracklist for the album, they told me they had the perfect vocal for this instrumental. It is such a catchy a cappella, and I’ve been closing all my DJ sets with this track now as it’s a really nice way to send people home with some peace, joy, and positivity.” **“Outro: Not Fade Away”** “The Grateful Dead ends their shows by singing ‘Not Fade Away’ back and forth between them and the audience—it’s such an emotional thing to witness, and I began to close my shows with a ripped version of that sing-along too. It felt like the perfect way to close the album, so I asked my close friends and family to send me voice recordings of the lines to put together like a chorus for this outro.”

Producer, DJ, pianist and activist LP Giobbi announces ‘Light Places’ - her long-awaited and highly anticipated full-length debut album, due out May 12th 2023 on Ninja Tune imprint Counter Records where LP, one of electronic music’s fastest-rising stars, sits comfortably alongside the likes of ODESZA, Bonobo, Bicep and TSHA. With the announcement, LP Giobbi shares a new single “Can’t Let You Go” featuring indie pop duo Little Jet on vocals. Speaking more on the new single, LP Giobbi says “I thought about my love for Polo & Pan and how fun it would be to make a song to be consumed during a pool time hang with friends. I sent the track to Little Jet – my favorite new band who is making music reminiscent of that amazing washed out / Beach House era but dare I say even more electronically savvy. They wrote the vocals ‘can’t let you go’ and also added some cool Juno synths.” Dedicated to her parents, 'Light Places’ sees the classically trained artist celebrate their free spirited approach to life and how it moulded her as a person. “This album is called "Light Places" which is the LP of these Scarlet Begonias Grateful Dead lyrics, "Once in a while You get shown the LIGHT In the strangest of PLACES If you look at it right”, Leah explains. “These are some of my dad’s favourite Dead lyrics and almost a philosophy for the way he lives and taught my brother and me to live. I am a seeker of light places both in the physical and the divine. I believe in letting yourself get lost and finding out it’s exactly where you were supposed to be. I hope this album helps you tap into your joy and light”. ‘Light Places’ was created in large part among the clouds, in aeroplanes high above the weights of reality and other incoming distractions where LP could easily lay down ideas and melodies before materialising them in a studio. The album recording process was a journey in itself for LP, which challenged her in new ways, expanding her artistic abilities beyond the confines of standalone singles. It allowed her to explore and experiment outside the realms of the dance floor - linking back to her improvised jazz and jam band foundations, where it all began. Featuring multiple tracks with impressive names like SOFI TUKKER, Little Jet, Caroline Byrne, Monogem, DJ Tennis & Joseph Ashworth throughout the album, ‘Light Places’ sees LP celebrate the joys of collaboration, improvisation and creating music through friendship - paying homage to the people and music that shaped her as an artist. A true expression of organic freedom, ‘Light Places’ encompasses who LP Giobbi is as an artist and what she values above all - family, creative exploration, gender equality within the music industry and of course, acclaimed 60’s jam band The Grateful Dead. A self confessed ‘deadhead’, Leah’s love for The Grateful Dead stems from childhood through her parents' appreciation for jam band culture and has influenced her life since. “I am grateful and proud to be raised by two magnificent Dead Heads who have danced their way through life seeking joy, sharing love and cherishing moments” she adds. In January 2023, the multi-hyphenate released a remix album of The Grateful Dead’s lead singer Jerry Garcia’s seminal 1972 solo debut, ‘Garcia’ - a project she’s incredibly proud to be a part of.