Next Wave #730: Lancey Foux

In Association With Cheap Monday...

“I’m not happy with nothing. I’m never happy,” says Lancey Foux bluntly while reflecting on his debut EP ‘Pink.’ “I make music so quickly,” he expands. “I work very quickly because I never know what I might be sitting on.”

It’s precisely this continues cycle of reinvention that makes him such an exciting prospect. The fourteen-track debut he speaks of sits in its own space between Alternative R&B and Trap, filtered through the Xanex-tinged lens of a young, ambitious South East Londoner.

Tonight Lancey shares a bill with the likes of Neverland Clan, House of Pharoahs and Divine Council as part of a Tiffany Calver-curated event at Hoxton’s Kamio. In a short but frenetic set, he pauses only twice: once to teach some respect to an over-zealous audience member, and once to respond to the crowd’s demands for anthemic single ‘I Know You’. Sitting down afterwards, his enthusiasm for creating something new with the talent that’s around him is obvious. “Everything serves as inspiration for me; whether it’s talking to him, or him, or her,” he says before pausing to our conversation to introduce a host of designers, producers, and close friend and collaborator Daniel OG.

Talking to Foux, it’s immediately apparent that his ambitions reach far beyond his current means: “I’ve been in the scene since I was about eighteen and I was a different person then, this gets repetitive. I know what I want to do. When you know what you want to do and the reality is that you’re not doing it, you get sick of it.” His restless creativity renders any tie to a particular scene or sound unsatisfactory, and is also borne out in his approach to making music: “I can be making something one minute and just want to finish it and move on to the next thing.”

At first you’d be forgiven for thinking Foux’ approach skittish, flippant even. Wrong – his approach to his art is both considered and holistic: “Whether it’s directing a video, making music or painting a picture of someone, it’s about delivering something that stems from what your thoughts are; that really comes from you.” For Lancey finishing work fills him with an immediate desire to begin work on something entirely new, as he follows his own musical discoveries and finds new ways to express himself. “My new stuff sounds more like Trap/Punk. I’m very influenced by New Wave Punk music; it’s got that irritated melody. I love that.”

Foux hints that his output has, on occasion, been stifled through lack of a proper platform; something that he’s striving to change for the benefit of others with his 1NE collective. “I wanted to build a platform for other people, for young people who haven’t necessarily got one,” he says. The inclusive, altruistic move stems from experience: “I know how it feels to want to let out something but you don’t necessarily have the means, or no one really understands what you’re trying to do. It’s a platform for those people.”

Whether creating his own art or enabling others, the evolution of Lancey Foux feels like it’s only just beginning. An artist that’s so demonstrably multi-faceted has the capacity to take his career in all manner of directions. “Maybe I’m not meant to be a traditional artist,” he speculates. “That’s just one possibility.”

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Words: Lewis Lister

Brought to you in association with Cheap Monday. Check out their latest offerings over on their website now.

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