Giving range and good vibes: an interview with Le Lou

Out today is the unique EP of French rapper Le Lou. Spanning two years, its tracks mix his voice pre and post-hormone therapy in an eclectic blend of party music and emotional pieces. We had the chance to catch Le Lou at the Fête du Slip festival, where he teased his long-awaited release.

It’s a nice afternoon in Lausanne, Switzerland. On the outside of the Arsenic, heart of the Fête du Slip festival, dozens of Club Mate bottles and sunglasses reflect the warm rays of the sun, scattered by the tall trees’ leaves. Sat on one of the colorful chairs, Le Lou enjoys the heat and echoed laughs that his last single, “Dimension Parallèles”, perfectly embodies. He is smiling despite the growing nervousness of the approaching scene, that he is “99,9% sure” will be perfect, thanks to the public's warmth.

A big stage lover, Le Lou grew up dancing to hip-hop music, which introduced him to the rap scene. If he is alone on the set for now (but with an incredible stage presence!), he would like to bring more to the table, to make it “a complete show”, with dance, theater, and scenography.

The eclectic Gemini sun AND rising has a lot of plans in mind, despite the EP taking most of his time lately. Self-described as someone “who has a big lack of self-discipline”, Le Lou still manages to be on all fronts, always trying to develop and staying in touch with all parts of the creation process. He made one of the new EP’s instrumentals and collaborated on a couple more.

Strasbourg-based, Le Lou started off in the atypical hip-hop band “La Bergerie” (The sheepfold) before covid hit and “everyone was in a change of mindset mode”. He thought that would be the best timing to start his own thing and be the wolf out of the sheepfold. If he loves Strasbourg's music scene and “wants to put it on the map”, Le Lou would like to explore other lands after five years in the city of Christmas.

“Dimension Parallèle” (Parallel Dimension) is the EP’s single and a perfect tune for these first days of summer. The song that he describes as a “cocktail-sipping, summer-flirting kind of vibe” was the introduction to the “Mue” project, the title of this first EP. Meaning both sloughing and voice break, “Mue” has the unique particularity of mixing Le Lou’s voice before and after his voice change due to hormone therapy.

With songs spanning two years, Le Lou’s voice is not the only thing changing in this EP that gives us quite a range of atmospheres. From “3am making-out session at a festival” tracks to an “emo cancer vent on [his] inner demons”, Mue is “a business card, a little presentation and invitation to an intimate universe”, as eclectic as its creator.

Go listen to Mue on your favorite streaming platform!

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Pictures by Nanténé Traoré