Producer of the Year 2023: Explore the delicate and elegant world of Cate Le Bon
In music, elegance is an elusive concept. Around every corner, at the end of every twist and turn, the subtlety of elegance beckons for more profound appreciation and comprehension or to vanish entirely. The balancing act of any musician and producer is as challenging as locating water in the desert, yet abundant like a festival at the peak of summer. This is the exact juncture at which Welsh-born artist Cate Le Bon has honed her expertise since emerging into the limelight around 14 years ago.
Nestled in the Mojave Desert of southeastern California, Joshua Tree stands as a testament to nature’s artistic imagination. Its unique, spiky trees silhouette the entire area with a mystical ambience rife with endearing contrasts — smooth granite monoliths juxtaposed against the ruggedness of the desert terrain. It’s in this realm that Le Bon crafts a lot of her music, a place that’s been her home for a couple of years, ever since the completion of her eagerly awaited sixth solo album, Pompeii.
Elegant by nature, Le Bon embodies both musician and producer roles, executing her art with the precision of an architect. As a master of her own world, she nimbly ghosts over every corner and edge of her sound, meticulously designing it until it transcends mere auditory experience. Le Bon’s music is fluid, ever-evolving in the pattern of her life, appearing as abstract time stamps adorned with sensory forms of texture and rhythm.
When Far Out interviewed Le Bon around eight years ago, it was with her long-term collaborator, Tim Presley. They have been working together under the name DRINKS since 2015, a year which saw the release of their debut LP, Hermits on Holiday. At the time, Le Bon explained the desire to break free from previous projects with White Fence in favour of something “we would get more out of” — exactly what they did with DRINKS. Hermits on Holiday didn’t necessarily have any preconceived direction, but that was the beauty of it.
As a producer, Le Bon’s approach is the same, despite not seeing herself as someone worthy of producer credits at all. “I love making my own records, so when someone asks me to assist them in making theirs, I feel the gravity of the role,” Le Bon told Far Out upon discovering our selection of her as Producer of the Year. “It’s a joy to be invited in and participate in someone else’s process. I don’t ever think of myself as a producer but appreciate the acknowledgement.”
Nevertheless, she consistently allows herself to be guided by instinct, all with an inherently deep sense of calm. Magnetism is Le Bon’s forté, a characteristic she exudes without trying. Her ability to absorb the world with such sensitivity was something she developed at a young age, engaging fully in the unrestrained pleasures of youth, where activities held no deeper significance beyond the sheer enjoyment of the moment.
This is something she carried into adulthood. “It’s pure just joy,” Le Bon told Pitchfork, explaining the endearment of childish innocence. Music, naturally, has provided Le Bon with the most direct avenue to access that particular brand of joy. Taking this in her stride, along with another childlike quality — authenticity — she has earned a well-sought-after reputation. “When you are asked to do a job like producing a record,” she explained, “Your job is to be honest with someone, even if that’s hard sometimes.”
Producing Deerhunter’s Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?, an album described by Bradford Cox as a “science fiction album about the present,” Le Bon provided a window into her soul, bringing her unique musical sensibilities and production expertise to the project, contributing to the album’s sonic direction and overall creative vision.
For Devendra Banhart’s eleventh studio album, he only wanted to make the album with Le Bon. The pair have an enduring and unique friendship where each party is totally enamoured with each other. It speaks volumes about Le Bon’s talent that, for Flying Wig, Banhart readily surrendered a level of control, a departure from his accustomed stance, while collaborating on an album with Le Bon as producer and co-writer.
Wilco’s Cousin was another lesson in Le Bon’s ethos. This was the first time the band had worked with an external musician in over two decades, and they got exactly what they paid for – divinity. A running theme also present throughout fellow Welsh musician H. Hawkline’s Milk For Flowers, Le Bon’s distinct delivery of supremacy dismantles any existing musical boundaries like a wrecking ball.
In this project, any lurking conventionality is absent. Although you might instinctively label Milk For Flowers as folk, the classification contradicts the inclusion of bold brass sections, intense electric guitar riffs, castanets, and unconventional song structures that transcend traditional boundaries despite the strummed verses and melodic lyrics.
As a producer, therefore, Le Bon concerns herself with far more than just technicalities. She is more than just a beacon of inspiration for aspiring musicians, more than just a living, breathing example of world-class innovation. She is also a lesson in the value of inimitable touch — we cannot learn to match those whose artistry is unreachable. We can only admire, appreciate, and observe as she leads us further into her unchartered territories.
