LAROCA – ARTIST PROFILE
February 13th, 2006 by rui
Listening to their impressive debut album, Friends In Far Away Places, it’s difficult to imagine Laroca beginning life in a student flat in Oxford. Its heady mix of lush electronica and hip hop beats laced with gypsy, Sufi, Latin and Afro-beat suggest a much more exotic birthplace. For Laroca’s Rob Pollard and Olly Wakeford, though, Friends In Far Away Places is a personal, musical journal of the last five years, drawing inspiration from foreign travel and music.
Laroca started out with Rob & Olly experimenting with a cheap sampler and a Korg Prophecy, before introducing more and more live instruments. Both had played music from a very young age. Olly had played the flute since the moment his arms were long enough and by the time he was 11, had been awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied for 7 years. It was during this period that he also started dabbling in various bands, playing keyboards and bass guitar, whilst at the same time going off to Central Saint Martins College to study Fine Art.
Meanwhile Rob learnt the piano, bass and jazz guitar at a young age, developing an early song-writing habit, which was fulfilled with the aid a 4-track recorder and some creaking eighties’ synths. By the time he had completed his history degree at Oxford University he was a veteran of several bands and once he’d been introduced to Olly, through a mutual friend, it was only a matter of time before Laroca was formed.
After writing the album Rob & Olly brought in a collective of talented musicians, including vocalist Anna Snowman (Fiona Renshaw), MC Mantmast (Grooverider, Friction), Ricky Fabulous (Belleruche) on guitars, Matt Derbyshire (The Second Whorl) on Rhodes and Mr Smiff (Breakin Even) on congas. This injected a new energy into the project, something which Rob & Olly were determined to bring back into the studio when they started recording. The result is a vibrant and exotic sound which translates equally as well live as it does on your iPod or stereo, justifying the faith Pete Lawrence had in them when he booked them, prior to signing their deal with Just Music, to play at the 2004 Big Chill festival.
Press Quotes
“I adore this album. “Friends In Far Away Places” is as good a debut as I have heard for some time. There’s something for everyone; it really is a magical piece of work.” - Ben Mynott, Blues & Soul Magazine Taken from Laroca Website
