November is going to be a big month for Los Angeles-based DJ and electronic music artist Josh Legg, also known by the appellation Goldroom.
According to a press release, on November 1 he drops his sophomore LP “Plunge/Surface,” the follow-up to his 2016 debut “West of the West,” and will concurrently be in the early days of a two-week tour that stops in Santa Barbara on November 7 for a gig at SOhO Restaurant & Music Club.
In an interview with the News-Press, Mr. Legg said that he is looking forward to getting onstage with his guitar and performing the new album’s songs with his band. Their upcoming live performances will particularly reflect the new album’s first half.
“This is the first time I’m going to be able to play the ‘Plunge’ versions with the band,” he said.
Most of the songs featured on “Plunge/Surface” were written when Mr. Legg was going through a period of convalescence after he broke his neck in 2017 while bodysurfing in Mexico. He described the music on his new record as a product of the haze in which he found himself during recovery, and therefore much darker in tone than the songs on “West of the West.”
“A lot of this music is a lot darker, a lot more moody, and a lot more reflective of what I was going through at the time,” he said.
This music, created for the purpose of live performances with his band, became “Plunge.” In addition to playing his songs live with fellow musicians, Mr. Legg also frequently performs as a DJ. As he started to recover from his injury and began feeling more like himself, Mr. Legg started wishing that he had versions of the “Plunge” songs that he could play during his DJ sets.
While he was playing a yacht tour in Croatia, he heard much of the French electronic music that initially got him into the genre, as well as a number of underground DJs. As Mr. Legg recalled, “a light went off” in his head and hearing this gave him the idea to sample the dark “Plunge” songs and recontextualize them into happier versions more conducive to the dance floor.
“The idea of sampling my own recordings was something that was exciting to me,” he said.
These versions form his new LP’s second half, “Surface,” which actually marks the first time Mr. Legg has sampled in his career. Of course, the sampled parts are still ones he originally played and recorded, which has always been the way he prefers to work. Describing himself as coming from a singer-songwriter background , Mr. Legg told the News-Press that he has always recorded his own sounds whenever he’s in need of an instrumental sample.
“I just have always enjoyed playing my own music,” he said.
When asked whether he prefers playing his songs live with his band or presenting them during his DJ sets, Mr. Legg said he tends to prefer whichever he hasn’t done recently. As he has performed the “Surface” versions for a while, the opportunity to tear into the “Plunge” versions is most exciting at the moment. He added that playing those tunes live is more in line with how they were created.
“At the end of the day, I wrote these songs so playing them and singing them feels most natural,” he said.
Tickets for Mr. Legg’s November 7 concert at SOhO cost between $17 and $20 and can be purchased online at www.sohosb.com. Doors to the venue open at 8:00 p.m. and the show starts at 9 p.m. SOhO Restaurant & Music Club is located at 1221 State St. Ste. 205.
