LP Giobbi Breaks Down Her ‘Dotr’ Album, Track by Track
DJ and producer LP Giobbi (born Leah Chisholm) approaches music from a deeply personal place.
It extends beyond just songs and into her business ventures as label head of yes yes yes and founder of Femme House, which aims to create equitable opportunities for women (with an emphasis on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ folks) across music. Her new album, titled Dotr (“Daughter”), continues this mission, inspired by her parents growing up and notes she’d write them signed, “Love, Dotr,” with incorrect spelling. (“I was the world’s worst speller,” she jokes.)
“This album as told through the interludes, intro and outro is a lot about what it is to be a daughter, have a daughter, love a daughter,” LP tells PAPER of Dotr, out everywhere October 18 (via Ninja Tune/Counter Records). “This album was also my way of honoring some of the most important women in my life.”
Over 16 tracks, Dotr brings together a stacked lineup of guest artists, some of which are LP’s longtime friends while others are new friends: Mascolo, Danielle Ponder, Jacob Banks, Reva DeVito and more. Several songs are built around LP’s favorite samples, while others incorporate real voice notes from influential figures in her life — all rooted in the same euphoric dance music she’s become known for. Below, she breaks it all down for PAPER, track by track.
“Intro: Patricia Lynn”
My mother-in-law Patricia Lynn, who has been a second mom to me for the past 12 years, passed away last year. The first vocals you hear are from her last voice message to me on my birthday. The vocals that come in right after are from Sophie Hawley-Weld (of Sofi Tukker), who wrote me this song on my birthday as her birthday wish for me, which is a lot about returning to myself and coming home. She incorporated lyrics from Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” as my dad and I have matching “Thunder Road” tattoos on our feet. I felt that these two vocals tie into the outro vocal really well, bookending this album perfectly. It’s an album about returning to oneself, finding “home” wherever that may be and, for me, a lot of that is wrapped around my identity as a daughter.
“Been Such a Long Time”
This track features Mascolo, who recently signed to my yes yes yes imprint. He is one of the most exciting artists I’ve ever been in a studio with. Working on this track and “So Nice to Be in Love” with him was a treat. Both were built around samples that we found and loved.
“Dancer”
“Dancer” is a declaration for the dance floor in collaboration with two of my favorite artists, Le Chev and Caroline Byrne. Caroline’s vocals glide effortlessly throughout the track and are paired beautifully with horns by Spencer Ludwig.
“Is This Love”
I had written this track with no vocal and was playing it out in a lot of my sets. I loved how beautiful the breakdowns were, contrasted with how hard the drops were. I had also been playing out Blessed Madonna and Joy Anonymous’ new track featuring Danielle Ponder. I had fallen in love with Danielle Ponder’s voice and then discovered her own original tracks through this song. I recently signed to Warner Chappell on the publishing side, and I sent this song to them to get ideas for top liners and they suggested Danielle Ponder and I freaked. We set up a session and she came into the studio. She is a force to be reckoned with. She used to be a public defender and then transitioned to music later in life. We were talking about all her bad Hinge dates and the lyrics poured out of her. She stepped up to the mic and recorded this song on the first take. The way she reinterpreted the main lyrics, weaving them in and out of jazz melodies, blew my mind. I then tapped my dear friend Natalie Grata to orchestrate strings on this track and we recorded live strings to really drive home the emotion in this track.
“Feel”
This track was built around a Jacob Banks acappella he sent me. I love working with artists and vocalists outside of the dance world (AKA Danielle Ponder, Portugal the Man, Brittany Howard), and this was another exciting opportunity to do that. Jacob’s track “Slow Up” has been on repeat in my house for years. The line, “What I’ve learned from a soldier/ Every man is a son to a daughter/ And we only remember when we see the blood,” gives me goosebumps every time. To work with him is beyond an honor. This track also has live strings orchestrated and recorded by Natalie Grata.
“Until There’s Nothing Left”
I built a dance track around Brittany Howard’s “Don’t Wanna Fight,” so I could play it in my sets because I have been obsessed with this song and Brittany for years and years. I never thought this would get to be released even though every time I played it my DMs lit up for me to release it. My managers reached out to her managers and turns out she was into the idea. I did a remix for her new album and she was down to put this track out in return. It truly blows my mind that I get her voice on this album.
“Interlude: Suse Millemann”
Suse Millemann was a dear friend of my parents. She was the only “professional musician” I knew growing up and she was a powerhouse. She died last year of Alzheimer’s and this voice note was the last thing she wrote before passing. My piano teacher also died of Alzheimer’s last year and I wanted to honor all the powerful women in my life who pointed me on this path.
“Bittersweet”
Portugal. The Man have been my favorite band since 2012 when I discovered their album In the Mountain in the Clouds. The amount of late night air guitar sessions in my kitchen to this band is countless. Last year, they reached out asking me if I was interested in remixing one of their singles. I just about passed out when I got that offer. We ended up both playing Chicago the same night last year, and I came to their show and then they came to mine and it was a relief to get to know my heroes and like them even more than I thought I would. They sent me some tunes and I fell in love with “Bittersweet” and got so excited about the track that I produced two versions of it: the main one and the rock version.
“So Nice to Be in Love”
Another one with Mascolo.
“Love Come Through”
Panama sent me this vocal and I produced a vibey track around it, and it’s a favorite in my DJ sets. Also got live strings in this one.
“Succession”
I felt this album needed an instrumental track. This is one of the first songs I sent to Natalie to add strings to and she nailed it. This is a journey — one that mixes a harder energy in the bass with a more beautiful, gentle energy in the synths and strings.
“Really Good”
I met Reva [DeVito] at my favorite place on earth: The Oregon Country Fair. I have been coming to this hippie festival since the womb with my family and will never miss it ever ever ever. I got an offer to headline it last year with my Dead House set, which was one of the greatest moments of my life. All of my family and friends were there at the place that raised me and I cried through my whole set. I was in the entertainment camp, where artists playing the festival camp, and I met Reva who was singing there. Her energy was infectious, we exchanged info and she sent me the vocal for this bop.
“Interlude: Dad to Daughter; We Say Yes”
I was with my dad at a Bob Dylan concert and he had just played “Just Like a Woman,” and I went to the bathroom and got my period for the first time. I ran out and told my parents to celebrate (I was a late bloomer), and my dad went home and wrote a poem about his daughter becoming a woman weaving in some lyrics from “Just Like a Woman.” As I get older, I realize how special it was that my dad embraced that moment. It made me embrace it, as well. I then wove in my friend’s poem about being a daughter (“We Say Yes”) in between some of his stanzas.
“Two Days Older”
My neighbor and dear friend, Madelyn, wrote this song and on a late night hang ended up playing it for me. It’s about her dear friend who took his own life. I thought it was stunning and asked her if I could record her. This song was born and again it has live strings from Natalie. I love this song as it steps outside the dance world and allowed for my “Ripple” moment (AKA a great song by the Dead).
“Carolyn”
I was in the studio trying to finish up some songs when I got the call I had been dreading for years: my piano teacher Carolyn (from second grade through graduating high school, who is the reason I am a musician) had passed away from Alzheimer’s. When I was in 10th grade, she went back to school at University of Oregon to teach herself electronic music. She didn’t own a computer, had never had a synthesizer, was the only woman in the course and the only person over 21 (she was 50). I’m sure that had a deep impact on me and my belief to start Femme House and think I can be a producer. On one of my last visits with her, I pulled out my recorder to just have her voice and her laugh immortalized should I ever need it. So the day I got the call that she had gone, I remember falling to the ground in the studio and sobbing for hours. When I was able to pick myself back up, I didn’t care about any of the music I had been working on and instead felt driven to write something in a major key (something I rarely do) because that is how she made me feel. I then went and found that lesson I recorded with us and put her vocal in the song.
“Outro: Mama, Mama, Many Worlds I’ve Gone Since I First Left Home”
It wouldn’t be an LP Giobbi album without a nod to the Grateful Dead. I spent close to 300 days on the road last year and after playing in a nightclub I find myself listening to anything but dance music on airplanes. My go-to is “Brokedown Palace” by the Grateful Dead. Every time I look out of a plane window on my way to my next gig and hear the line, “Mama, Mama many worlds I’ve gone since I first left home,” it brings me to tears and I’m not completely sure why. Maybe cause I feel like I’ve lived a million years on the road even in my short career, and most of my life is in relation to my home (my parents and the wonderful life they set out for me) and processing that is a lot. It’s wonderful and beautiful and scary and huge and overwhelming and amazing.
Photography: CJ Harvey
DJ and producer LP Giobbi (born Leah Chisholm) approaches music from a deeply personal place. It extends beyond just songs and into her business ventures as label head of yes yes yes and founder of Femme House, which aims to create equitable opportunities for women (with an emphasis on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ folks) across music.…