On Bandcamp
Toronto’s LAL (Rosina Kazi and Nicholas Murray) have deep roots in the Canadian scene with eighteen years of creating music and an expansive catalogue of innovative records. LAL’s music is a combination of all the music they love. Formed in 1998 by the dynamic duo of poet, lyricist,activist, singer and Bengali-rooted tough-guy Rosina Kazi and her life partner, producer, sound designer, philosopher, aphorismist and Barbados-born king of chill, Nicholas Murray, LAL always proved hard to describe. They have a long list of accolades, including being featured on the cover of NOW Magazine and in many prominent publications, and have toured both nationally and internationally, sharing the stage with Digable Planets, Tricky, Saul Williams, Nelly Furtado and State Of Bengal.
Find Safety, the result of three years of studio work, is compelling, dancable and personally political all at the same time. LAL started with the goal of making a dancier album versus the downtempo they were previously known for. The result is a beat-driven piece of art with beautiful driving vocals and lyrics. Rosina Kazi’s vocal style can be attributed to her influences from Reggae, rap music, Jazz, Bengali music and western electronic/pop/avant-garde. Find Safety was lyrically informed by a culmination of housing shows at their home concert space and by being in social justice and community art spaces with an emphasis on Queer and/or BIPOC communities. It speaks to wanting to create safer spaces for themselves and their friends. As Rosina Kazi says, “we felt like we needed to record a record that spoke more to our experience being brown-black in Toronto, having traveled all over the world.”
Find Safety was produced by Nicholas Murray, except for “Find Safety” which was produced and mixed by Stephen Murray. The album was mixed by Branwen Munn (most noted for work with 4hero during the 1990s) and mastered by Jay Hodgson for Roofless Creations. LAL is touring with Find Safety Canada in May/June 2016 and internationally afterward.
