In this interview spotlight, I chat with Laguna (of Mountain Girl Records) about the latest release (Sweetlips), earliest music memories, dream collabs, and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Can you describe your sound for our readers? I can throw out descriptors like fuzz, psychedelic, “VHS glam”, but how do you describe it?

It’s all in there, but if I had to narrow it down, I’d say, Laguna teeters between heavy-psych and bedroom pop. There’s a fairly noticeable Black Sabbath streak throughout Sweetlips and that’s deliberate, and I turn it on and off. But the glam thing comes from trying to sort of showcase the “guitar-monies”, spotlighting their moments which is inspired by Thin Lizzy. Sweetlips was mastered to VHS tape. This song has a more modern sonic makeup compared to my previous release which is a more hardcore sort of recording experiment in an attempt to try and evoke the beauty of the past. Sweetlips is too, just not as far back, closer to the 80s.

Is there a story, theme, or other inspiration behind Sweetlips? Why did you choose to release this song?

Sweetlips refers to sweet talkers, you know, liars and manipulators. I chose to release it to keep things unpredictable, but also to keep things fresh. I don’t like to be conventionally pigeon-holed, I’d much rather value nuance over snap judgment.

What about the music video? How did that come about?

The clip was shot on 16mm as well as produced by the marvellous Willem Kingma, aka Creepy Baby Productions. Willem’s a mad man of many creative disciplines and one of few individuals that could handle my aesthetic requests. I grew up in the mid 90’s and on Thrasher magazine and Skate Vids at the beginning of the internet and like him, although not to the same extent, I’ve been filming and making clips since the age of 11 or something ridiculous. The spectrum of cinematic possibilities is endless, I enjoy trying to evoke the emotions of a song with the visuals.

What is your earliest music memory? Or a moment that sticks out for motivating you to write, record, and release music?

My earliest music memory would be in primary school, glancing through a school music room window, to witness a high school kid going full-black-out kamikaze on a drum kit. It was utterly terrifying but also I knew I wanted to be a drummer in that moment. I would have been like 8 or 9. Ultimately I think it was an economic decision, because, if I were the resources, then I wouldn’t have to outsource commodities. But, that alone, isn’t enough.

If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why?

I’d love to collaborate with heaps of people, recording albums on your own is a pretty lonely show. If I had to choose one person, it would probably be Chris Bell from Big Star. I’ve covered his “You and Your Sister” with my friend Leah singing Alex Chilton’s harmonies (live) a couple of times. He was capable of writing deeply beautiful songs that painted vivid imagery of ordinary moments.

I know it’s hard…but favorite song (or artist) of all time? Or Top 3…?

If you held a gun to my head, Jake Holmes, Todd Rundgren and Syd Barrett

Where’s the best place to keep up with your new releases?

Mountain Girl Records.com is pretty good for it, but if you want to keep updated on shows it’s best to hit us up on the gram

I appreciate Your time. Any last thoughts before signing off?

Thanks, I appreciate IMD getting involved, it’s been a pleasure. No finale, I ain’t goin’ nowhere.

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