Image Courtesy of Isa Castro-Cota.
Margeaux Labat, known by her Instagram handle as @marg.mp3, is a music aficionado and content creator based in Brooklyn, New York. Born and raised in New Orleans, if she wasn’t listening to her brothers practising with friends – and they always were, Labat was experiencing the beauty of music in her parents’ car. Most if not all of us understand and experience the transcendent, visceral experience of music on a daily basis. Unlike other art forms which may have to be experienced in a gallery or exhibition space, music can take place wherever we find ourselves – whether in the privacy of our bedrooms or on the busy morning train. Put simply, it’s a means of escape. And this is what Labat appreciates most about music. From album reviews to her iconic ‘what I listen to in [insert month here]’, Labat is one of our go-to journalists for music recommendations and has curated a playlist for SLEEK 78 – BLISS.
Image Courtesy of David Spector.
SLEEK: How did you get into music?
Margeaux Labat: Music has always been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest, most visceral life memories are connected to music. I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a very musical household. I have two other brothers who were extremely talented, prestigious musicians growing up, and they were very well-known and respected in the New Orleans jazz scene. Growing up, our house was the designated practice space, so all of their musician friends would always be over at the house, hanging out and playing music. As my brothers entered their teen years, their tastes began to expand beyond jazz (especially that of my oldest brother), and this was reflected in the bands that they went on to form and become involved with. I remember my brothers being in punk bands, noise projects, a hip-hop collective, in addition to their jazz bands, and they would always be practicing and playing music in our house. I was always their little sister just hanging around in the background, but I’d be absorbing all of the music that was around me. Even when my brothers would just be listening to music upstairs in their rooms (next door to mine) or playing CDs in my mom’s van growing up, I’d be paying attention.
My mom and dad also played a lot of cool music in the car when my brothers and I were younger. I remember my dad playing The Beatles’ Revolver album, in addition to listening to a lot of classical, reggae and classic rock on the radio, but I especially gravitated towards my mom’s music taste. She played a lot of Eighties and Nineties music – The Cranberries, Björk, The Cars, Suzanne Vega, Sade, SWV – but she also really loved a lot of the newer music my oldest brother would put her onto, like Interpol, Ariel Pink, Coldplay’s first album, the Napoleon Dynamite soundtrack lol. My parents also played a lot of music from Latin America, a lot of bossa nova like Astrud and João Gilberto, and also Buena Vista Social Club. Needless to say, I was exposed to a large variety of genres from a very young age! Which played an integral role in my own personal music exploration in my adolescence.
S: What do you love most about it?
ML: For me, what I love most about music is how it can transport me to another time and place, and how it’s a means of escape from my current reality. I unfortunately don’t travel much or often, but music luckily makes me feel like I’ve been all over the world. I love listening to older music from different countries, since it makes me forget about the current world I live in, even if just temporarily. I pretty much love any music that makes me temporarily forget about the modern age and the extreme anxiety, paranoia, isolation and existential dread that has correlated with our increased dependence on digital technology. Music that reminds me of the beauty of human connection, of being in touch with both nature and our own humanity.
S: Which musician is one of your biggest inspirations right now?
ML: I listen to a lot of music, so my favorite musicians are constantly changing. But throughout what was probably the most formative period of my music taste (roughly from 2015 to 2021), up until now, I am endlessly inspired by Björk and Animal Collective. They’re both so forward-thinking, always producing music that, to me, has always been ahead of its time; but what sticks out to me the most about both of them is their boundless curiosity and imagination. They’ve never been afraid to make the weirdest-sounding shit, not really thinking about appealing to people that might be listening, or to record labels and the music industry at large – instead prioritising their own self-expression and creativity. There’s a childlike element to their music, one that reminds me of the importance of keeping your inner child alive and to never stifle your curiosity and vulnerability. Both of them being able to do that throughout their adult life and careers, especially on a mass scale and in the public eye, will forever be admirable to me.
S: Which is probably your most listened-to album?
ML: This is really hard, especially when it comes to full albums! Probably either Endless by Frank Ocean, The Smiths’ Hatful of Hollow compilation, Sufjan Stevens’ Seven Swans, Of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? or Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins.
S: Which 3 albums would you listen to your whole life if you had to?
ML: Radiohead – Kid A, Sufjan Stevens – Illinois, The Smiths – The Queen is Dead.
S: What was your favourite concert so far?
ML: Also a really hard one!!! But at least in recent memory, I got to see Björk in Berlin last summer (June 2021). It was the day I arrived in Berlin, and my partner and I were having a really shitty check-in experience, being pretty much stranded at a random playground in Berlin for hours before we were able to g\et into where we were staying. My partner was looking up something fun we could do that night, and he saw that she was having a concert! We bought the tickets immediately and ended up going that evening. She was playing at an outdoor amphitheater with a full orchestra, and she performed songs throughout her entire discography. I was crying a lot, haha. Easily one of the top 10 moments of my life so far.
S: Which artist would you like to meet some day and why?
ML: I feel like I’ve already talked about Björk a ton, so for the sake of changing it up, I’ll say David Byrne, who is someone I’m also constantly inspired by throughout my life. Whenever I watch interviews with him, or the couple times I’ve seen him live, I’ve always ended up in tears at some point. He’s one of my favorite musicians – having never been afraid to express himself fully, even if perceived by others as weird, introverted or eccentric, and he always gives his all in anything he does creatively. Even though I’m always super weary about meeting people that I truly idolise, very much believing in the saying ‘Never meet your heroes,’ I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a dream of mine to meet him one day. David Byrne, if you ever end up seeing this, please hire me as your personal assistant! Haha.
S: What’s your biggest dream?
ML: In all honesty, my biggest dreams aren’t centred around professional endeavours or ambitious music-related aspirations, but rather what I wish to get out of life. If I could just travel the world, experience mental peace and eventually know what it feels like to be truly free, I’d be happy.
Listen to Margeaux Labat’s SLEEK Mix playlist here.
As featured in SLEEK 78 – BLISS. Available in print and digital here.