“Transporting listeners into a crazy world created by these three artists.”
You’ve most likely come across a few singles in the charts by a group named LSD and the vocals of some familiar singers. If you didn’t know after all this time, artists Sia and Labrinth have teamed together, along with world-renowned music producer, Diplo, to form a supergroup. Since beginning their collaboration in 2018, the group have released five singles including hits such as ‘Genius’ and ‘Thunderclouds.’
On the 12th April 2019, LSD released ‘Labrinth, Sia & Diplo Present LSD’ as their debut album with Columbia Records. With the album currently holding 13th place in Apple Music UK, the collaboration between three big and talented stars hasn’t done as well in the ears of the public as one would think. It’s probably a good thing though, as the music they have produced moves far away from anything else in the charts at the moment. It’s also probably the first album of 2019 to have tracks that embrace the Summer season.
The Artists
Labrinth, also known as Timothy Lee McKenzie, is a British artist most notably known for his single ‘Earthquake’ featuring Tinie Tempah. It wouldn’t be strange to see the Hackney-born artist collaborating on a project like this, considering the ‘All Stars Remix’ of his renowned single and many other singles with Emeli Sande and Kygo. Labrinth had previously worked with the international Australian singer, releasing their track ‘To Be Human’ for DC’s Wonder Woman film.
After the release of ‘1000 Forms of Fear’ in 2014, Sia (Kate Isobelle Furler) has remained incredibly relevant in the charts, collaborating with artists such as Sean Paul, Kendrick Lamar, and Angel Haze.
Diplo, Thomas Wesley Pentz Jr., comes as the perfect addition to the duo. If there was any producer capable of making this combination triumph, it’s him. Having created and lead two accomplished music projects, ‘Major Lazer’ and ’Jack U,’ it’s safe to say that he knows what he’s doing.
The Beginning
In a Tweet posted back in May 2018, Diplo stated that he had been invited to the studio to write with Labrinth and Sia.
.@sia and @labrinth are already geniuses i’m glad I was invited to write music with them.. it sounds like you think, epic random amazing pop music from outer space.
🎥:https://t.co/X5eoQXLDIp pic.twitter.com/XfsAMQ9b6B— wes (@diplo) May 3, 2018
Having worked with both artists on separate tracks before (‘Elastic Heart’ – Diplo & ‘To Be Human’ – Labrinth), it’s probably safe to guess that Sia was the link that brought the trio together. Brooke Ledbury on Beat Magazine further claims that after having written their song together, Sia and Labrinth found that they had plenty more ideas that they wanted to work on together. This wouldn’t be a surprise considering the vast amount of creativity they express in their individual productions and their ample experience in music producing and song-writing. Diplo told Beats 1: “When you put Lab and Sia in a room, it’s the craziest concoction.”
The Verdict
The album is a truly compelling piece, transporting listeners into a crazy world created by these three artists. It’s completely different from what DJ Khaled produces. Although he’s brilliant at bringing together a big number of superstars on one album, you wouldn’t find the same harmony as there is on LSD’s album. The unique traits of each artist are highly present throughout the ten tracks and yet not one of them overshadows the other. Sitting at 24th place on the charts last week, it was disappointing to see their album spend only a meagre four days on the UK album charts.
With that being said, they are competing with some very strong releases from artists such as Billy Eilish, Ariana Grande, Dave in addition to the very popular motion picture soundtracks of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody, ‘A Star is Born’ and ‘The Greatest Showman.’ I think we’ll have to wait for the second ‘Frozen’ album for that last one to be knocked off the charts. Three of their singles have reached the UK charts include, ‘Thunderclouds’ peaking at 17thposition, ‘Genius’ at 72nd and ‘Audio’ at 73rd. Although this first album didn’t make a huge impact, Labrinth, Sia, and Diplo are more than capable of keeping ‘LSD’ alive and creating more musical brilliance through the collaboration.
Rating: 4/5
By Sam Dawson
Images provided by Diplo/Twitter
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