Words by Matthew Buckley
Image by JLN Productions
Legac.y, the musician, producer, rapper based in the Northern Suburbs of Adelaide is set to release his new single ‘Big Blue House’ to all major streaming services. Through sampling his surroundings legac.y is able to create an ambience around his percussion/drums with the goal of incorporating nature into the artificial world of modern music.
"Similar to how a smell can evoke feelings and memories, I believe the sound captured in a certain place at a certain time can really break that wall between the artist and listener, it makes it more personal" -legac.y
We caught up with Legac.y to chat all things music and inspo.
What inspires you when you write music? And do these influences inspire you in other aspects of your life?
The inspiration of my lyrics usually stems from the mood I’m in when writing, I can only write when the mood is right. Emotions, heartbreak, relationships, love, and really anything taking place in my current life makes up a huge portion of my inspiration for my lyrical work. When it comes to the music and production side, I use a handheld field recorder to discover new and exciting sounds all around Adelaide to use within my songs, whether that’s recording ambience or capturing sounds to use as percussion and drum elements. Constantly changing up my workflow, trying new techniques, and just plain experimenting with any and every tool I have available (from VHS recorders, to old tape decks, to even circuit bending children’s toys) all play a part in creating new and interesting musical ideas.
“Inspiration for me is that tantalising carrot on the end of a string dangling in front of me, always slightly out of reach. But when inspiration strikes it hits hard - legac.y”
We’re in love with ‘Big Blue House’ and we were hoping you could share what influenced this concept?
The influence of Big Blue House came from the notion of growing up from childhood into adulthood and losing our sense of freedom to be who we want to be; being given all the unwanted responsibilities we didn’t ask for and being expected to just accept it as a reality of life. Big Blue House is about the desire to give up all these adult responsibilities and just wanting to go back to being a kid again.
How would you describe your sound?
The style of my beat tapes and the style of the songs accompanied by my vocals are extremely different.
I made my beat tape ‘Technicoloured Dreams Vol.2’ during my time studying electronic music production at uni, where I was told how songs are ‘normally’ structured, what BPMs are used in which genres, and what kinds of sounds are generally found within said genres. Naturally my instinct was to fight this and use unusual BPMs in decimal points like 156.27 BPM, deliberately not sticking to normal song structures and sometimes using the most unappealing sounds I could find to use in my songs.
Not caring about being in the norm and not labelling my beat tapes under any genre really helped to shape my sound in that regard.
When it comes to my vocal songs, I take a lot more care with the instrumentals and ensure that anyone could listen and enjoy it, no matter if it's little six-year-old Jimmy from down the street or 70-year-old Margaret next door.
Would you say you have a particular style or genre of music that defines you?
Not really, I generally stay within the realms of Hip Hop; but I’m always trying to experiment with different mixes of sounds and styles.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
Whether it’s lyrically or production wise, MF Doom, Flying Lotus, Tuka, Ivy Lab, and Injury Reserve have all had the biggest influence and impact on my music.
Throughout your career has there been a moment where you realised this is it, this is what I want to do?
When I was 12 years old I started off by making dubstep (it was 2012 so no surprises there), I went through high school working on music for myself until one day in year 12 someone asked if I could make a beat for them and they’d pay me for it. I realised that I could make my own business from this stuff, the production and mixing/mastering jobs kept coming in from then on.
What message are you hoping to share through your music?
You don’t have to paint yourself as a certain image and comply with what’s popular today, what’s big right now probably isn’t going to be big next week. Be yourself and express yourself the way YOU want to, only you can be you.
What would be your dream collaboration?
My dream collaboration would have to be Kojaque and Kean Kavanagh. I'm a huge fan of them and love what they do, and we’d make something incredible together, I’m sure
Thanks for stopping by Hipland!