Powfu Dishes on Telling Stories and Bringing Fans in Close on New Album Gathered by the Lantern
We first fell in love with the music of lo-fi hip-hop star Powfu with his viral breakout hit "death bed (coffee for your head)," and we haven't looked back since.
The track, featuring beabadoobee, has been inescapable on social media since its release in 2020, racking up a whopping 1.5 billion streams on Spotify with no signs of stopping, but that truly was just the start for the Canadian artist. Today, he released his new album, Gathered by the Lantern, consisting of nine infectious tracks that highlight Powfu's lyrical and melodic strengths. We adored it from the first listen, and Powfu was kind enough to share his insights on his newest music and what it means to him in the interview below.
On Gathered by the Lantern
Powfu: Gathered by the Lantern just sounds like it fits my type of shows very well. I love feeling intimate with my fans and telling them stories as if we were gathered around a fire for the night. This album is also a mix of different sounds with a different story in each track—a story for each person gathered by the lantern.
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The Themes of Gathered by the Lantern
Powfu: The main thing I want to happen when people listen to these songs is for them to see and feel like they're in the setting I'm describing. I love to use visual and descriptive words so that it's easier to follow along with the story. I hope it brings a sense of peace and possibly new ways of seeing things.
The Sound of Gathered by the Lantern
Powfu: I spent a lot of time on each track and went down a different trail with each one. I produced three songs out of the nine, which is pretty rare for me and also worked really hard on adding big builds and deep lyrics.
Songs as a Mirror
Powfu: My songs are just mirrors of things I live and see—making lots of music and talking about love and loneliness and all at the same time with lots of faith.
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Powfu's Favorite Song
Powfu: My favorite song is probably "no balls" just because it took a lot of trying different melodies and adding each instrument one by one. It felt like a good mix between hip-hop and pop-punk as well.
What's New About Gathered by the Lantern
Powfu: Just always evolving my voice and sound. Quality and creativeness always changing.
Final Thoughts
Powfu: I hope you all find parts of this album that you can relate with and appreciate all of you for giving me your time. God bless ❤️
Listen to Gathered by the Lantern in its entirety here:
For more stories behind great new music, click HERE to read our interview with Mackenzie Sol on the new track, "Can't Sleep."