Creative Conversations 006: FARR Propagates A Blossoming International Collaboration
Interview by Luke Byatt
London and Los Angeles collaborative outfit, FARR have just released their anticipated debut album, Weightless. The record’s lush neo soul aesthetic plays with the senses ad the duo transcend genre bounds. We caught up with Romeo and Linden to break down the album, and chat through the collaborative process.
Futuremag Music: Hey FARR, how're you going? Bunkered down and staying safe?
Roméo: Yeah we’re good. This pause in the hustle and bustle of everyday life has been really nice actually. I think as studio hermits we’re thriving pretty hard. Hope you’re staying safe and healthy as well!
Futuremag Music: Congratulations with the release of Weightless! It's a stunning lyrical and sonic journey. We heard a few tracks before the LP dropped, on that note could you talk us through the track selection and order?
Linden: Thank you! And yes of course. It took a while re-working the track listing until it properly flowed. We had a few tracks that didn’t make the cut that I still hope come out at some point… The main obstacle we faced with the track order/selection was making sure that it wasn’t too exhausting on the ear to listen to. Our music can be pretty full on and I wouldn’t say its “easy listening” so we wanted to make sure that there was really stripped back moments that weren’t as sonically dense - which I think we figured out in the end with records like ‘Magic’ and ‘Technicolour”.
Futuremag Music: 'Wildflowers' is a real standout in the record, could you provide us some insight to the writing and production process for this single?
Roméo: This song has had a long life funny enough. I actually wrote the beginning of it standing outside a friend’s house when I was about 21. I went back to my parent’s garage (where I wrote a lot of the early FARR stuff) and cut a demo. I was begging Linden to dig into it for a while but the original demo never enticed him that much. Fast forward about 3 years we were at our friend Jon’s house working and he started the new ‘Wildflowers’ beat. He played around with it for a while and I jokingly started singing the chorus over the track and the rest was history. By the next day we had our friend come play trombone on it and then wrapped it over the next few months. I was freshly out of a kinda shitty relationship and I had a lot to say and this was the perfect vessel for it.
Futuremag Music: You touch on a multitude of genres with electro, soul, funk and R&B shining through in your releases. What draws you to these particular sonics?
Linden: Growing up in London I was exposed to a really diverse mix of music. During school time I listened to a lot of hip hop but I also played drums in rock and jazz bands. I didn’t quite know where I fit in the bigger picture musically but I knew I just loved music. Then when I started going out I got heavily into electronic music which added another angle to the whole thing. As far as me and Roméo’s connection, soul music is always the style that we feel most ourselves doing so that’s one thing that always comes through strongest.
Futuremag Music: To wrap it up if Weightless was a cocktail, what would be in it to best describe the message, mood and sonic of the album?
Roméo: The overall mood I’d say is lonely and hopeful. I think the perspective content wise usually lands in my lap, so it does a pretty good job representing my inclination to over think everything. It’s a very personal album to us ‘cause it’s real life documentation of everything that’s happened to us in the last 4 years.
FARR by Lennon Gregory