“I got into sampling because I discovered DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing… in my CD collection,” explains Montreal-based musical auteur Matt LeGroulx, giving credence to L. Frank Baum’s famous quote about looking for your heart’s desire in your own backyard. “I don’t remember acquiring it and have no idea how long I’ve had it for but I decided to give it a spin and as soon as the horns came in on ‘The Number Song’ I was hooked.”
Leroulx, the artist behind Expwy, High Five, and collaborator in Chairs and Manners, channels his inner DJ into Homebody, a new project that recently released its first single, “For You”. Inspired by Entroducing… and albums by Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker and Kiefer, LeGroulx built ‘for you” from samples of Polish violinist Zbigniew Seifert’s recording “For The Love Of You” alongside fresh compositions and improvisations. Homebody’s aesthetic is organized around those trippy, helium-light samples and their seamless assimilation with LeGroulx’s original work.
While he’s never bowed down to conventionality or played by the rules, Homebody feels like a major departure from LeGroulx’s previous endeavours. For one thing, “For You” sounds like LeGroulx is genuinely having a blast ripping samples and reconstructing sound. Though he’s masterfully played with pop constructs in the past (“Throbbing with unnatural light” from 2014’s Flagellation Honey album immediately comes to mind), “For You” is next-level work, on a different plane. “for you” is LeGroulx’s gift to himself; he’s making music that brings him joy and contentment, feelings that in turn translate to his audience by way of the song’s unconventional earworm delights.
Note: In the interim between initially writing this post and its publication, Homebody has released a full album’s worth of music which includes “For You”.
