This very morning, on May 20, L.A.-based DJ/production duo Louis the Child announced details of their debut album, out June 12 and called Here For Now. After years of putting out EPs and singles, this is their first full-lengther and weighs in at a meaty 14 tracks.

“I don’t think any of our other releases had the idea or concept throughout the whole project,” says Robby Hauldren. “But this one does. It’s the longest body of work we’ve put out. I feel like it’s a good progression, each project being more and more what Louis the Child is and a little bit bigger dose of it. A better and more fully formed version of it. I feel like it’s been a good trajectory and growth rate.”

The album features some impressive collaborations, notably with EARTHGANG, Foster the People, Duckwrth, K.Flay and Bob Moses.

“I think we always want to work with people whose music we admire,” says Hauldren. “Or who we admire as people. We’re huge, huge fans of EARTHGANG so it’s really awesome to get them on a song. Their album Mirrorland was one of my favorite rap albums in the past ten years honestly. We’ve made stuff with K.Flay before and really loved making more music with her, love her as a person. That’s always the criteria that we have when working with people, that we’re fans of them.”

It’s been two years since the Kids At Play EP, seven years since the project was born. Louis the Child have been building up to the release of the debut album by dropping three singles, the most recent being “Little Things” featuring Quinn XCII and Chelsea Cutler.

“I feel like in just every way, we’ve grown and gotten better,” Hauldren says. “Sonically, the album sounds more polished and it leans into a lot of different sounds and has a wider breadth to it than any other project we’ve done. I think the songwriting on it too has gotten a lot better. I think we’re always trying to improve and I feel like we’ve really taken an even bigger step up in this album, in every direction. Even down to the creative, visual side — I feel like this whole project is much more meaningful and feels more cohesive.”

They’re on a roll then. Or were. Of course, the COVID-19 lockdown has affected the rollout of the album.

“We pushed back the release date a little bit because of quarantine,” says Freddy Kennett. “I’m happy that we get to get this album out and see how it does while we’re at home and just watch how it breathes. We originally had a tour we were going to be going on, and I don’t know if that’s still going to happen. That’s too bad. We had this whole plan and idea for what the show’s going to be for this album, what the meaning of it and the message is going to be. What the vibe will mean. Now I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to do that for our debut album. It’s interesting.”

 

 

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