Crayon - Misplaced / Ithinkso (EP)

Photo Credit: Kiroubel Beaujour

Parisian multi-instrumentalist and producer Crayon shares his two-track EP ‘Misplaced / Ithinkso’, out now on Erased Tapes.

Cementing himself as an integral part of the French Indie music scene, Crayon, real name Lauren Larue, signed to the highly respected Erased Tapes imprint in 2021 to herald in the next chapter of his career. His 2-track EP, consisting of ‘Misplaced’ and ‘Ithinkso’, sees him going back to his electronic, UK-infused roots. Whilst the opening song ‘Misplaced’ — featuring vocals from Gracy Hopkins and Jo Lowenthal of Australian indie band Tora — maintains a clearer narrative; the second is a blend of traditional 00’s uk garage and jazz, almost fully instrumental. It’s this clear contrast the producer wanted to explore further, made possible by spending a month away in Morocco with choreographer Leo Walk and a bunch of other creatives and friends in early 2020. While ‘Misplaced’ had already been recorded several months before, ‘Ithinkso’ was sitting comfortably amongst a raft of other unfinished songs in Crayon’s hard drive. “It was only after seeing Leo’s excitement at first listen, and the incredible and abstract dance moves he would throw while discovering the song that I knew I had to do something with it,” the artist recalls.

As he and Leo went to spend a week at Plastician’s mystical domain Jean Francois Fourtou, on the outskirts of Marrakech, they found themselves submerged in a parallel world, surrounded by giant sculptures of insects, and a fully equipped, real sized reversed house. One quiet night they decided to experiment together with Leo repeating specific moves, almost turning himself into a human boomerang, while Crayon’s assignment was to write an assimile yet efficient electronic beat to it. After sampling a very short bit from French Soul singer Enchantée Julia (who Crayon was producing for at the time), ‘Ithinkso’ was born, named after what they would both hear phonetically from the sample.