From Wairarapa To LA: Meet New Zealand's Mysterious LA Women

New Zealand's avant R&B outfit LA Women emerged from nowhere in 2016 with their epic piano ballad, Hurricane Love – which has since accrued over five million streams on Spotify. Now, having signed to Island Records UK, the blog raves have presented a debut EP, I was admiring her through a series of precision cut mirrors. And the group is no longer NZ's best-kept secret.

NZ has an impressive legacy of R&B and hip hop – urban music mainstream there well before in Australia. What's more, NZ has generated international rap stars like Savage. However, the country also has many acclaimed R&B and soul acts – among them Wellington's Fat Freddy's Drop (with frontman Joe Dukie), Ladi6 and Aaradhna, the First Lady of Dawn Raid Entertainment. Latterly, we've been introduced to Jordan Rakei, who hails from NZ via Brisbane, and Villette.

But – back to the mysterious LA Women. The trio have given surprisingly few interviews to the international media, rather maintaining their profile on streaming platforms and social media. Happily, this November, they'll hit Australia supporting Sydney combo GLADES.

LA Women was officially formed three years ago by Jake Schdroski, the group's shyly lowkey lead vocalist, keyboardist and primary songwriter, his first cousin Zac Emerson (drums), and their old friend Jesse Brown (guitar) in Masterton – a town in the North Island's Wairarapa region. "We've been jamming and stuff together for ages," says Schdroski from his current Auckland base. 

Schdroski penned Hurricane Love in a bedroom during his late teens. LA Women would win a high school band competition, allowing them to record Hurricane Love professionally in Auckland. "I wrote that song when I was 17 and I'm almost 22 now, so it's very old," Schdroski reflects. "I think I've grown apart from that song now. I still love the song – but it's just so old. But it was about a relationship that I had through high school – very close-shave, kind of! But, in a production sense, we were listening to a lot of alt-pop stuff like early [The] 1975 and Phoenix."

As the independently-issued Hurricane Love went viral, LA Women found a manager in the canny Rikihana Douglas – who's likewise overseeing the future bass duo SACHI, alt-R&B-type Matthew Young, and rising producer Montell2099. Under his guidance, LA Women shot an intimate video for Hurricane Love around Masterton. In it, Schdroski's 'girlfriend' shaves his head – the singer symbolically shedding his old self as he goes from small town boy to star. It's a coming-of-age short film. In fact, Douglas proposed the head-shaving concept, thinking it'd "look cool," Schdroski laughs. 

LA Women have evidently been inspired by the modish R&B of The Weeknd, Frank Ocean and even James Blake. Yet, at the same time, all transcend any easy categorisation. Indeed, the post-genre aesthetic is a trend in urban pop, with rappers powerfully declaring themselves 'recording artists'. Schdroski believes that LA Women exist "somewhere in between R&B and pop," with Hurricane Love revealing "a little bit more of a pop edge to it" vocally. Their follow-up, Call On Me, was a '90s R&B (or quiet storm) throwback. LA Women then collaborated with SACHI on Count It Up, which could be a trop Hall & Oates. "Most of our new stuff, I think it's quite R&B-influenced – especially the vocal," Schdroski says. "But we kind of fluctuate on production – like we use a lot of different sound designer stuff to make each song have their own life, instead of keeping a traditional production sound. So I think that's what makes us a little bit different from what you hear from those other R&B artists."

LA Women cut their latest single, Conscience, with beatmaker pal Montell2099. Last year Montell2099 both remixed Lorde's Green Light alongside SACHI and premiered as an artist in his own right with the banger Hunnid On The Drop, featuring Atlantan rapper 21 Savage. "He makes a lot of very hard-hitting trap music," Schdroski says. "He's doing amazing things at the moment. It's such a blessing to be able to have him around and work with him, 'cause he's such a genuine guy. I love him to pieces." In a Facebook post, LA Women describe Conscience – Drakey trap-soul with a sly guitar solo – as being "fit for the after after-party." But, Schdroski explains, it has a dark subtext. "We just wrote that one night – we were having a few beers and then the song just came out of nowhere. I guess lyrically it kind of touches on my experience of drugs and alcohol and partying and stuff, which I became very fond of once I moved up to Auckland… It comes at a price. That's why it's called Conscience. It does play on my conscience, the – I wouldn't say [self-] abuse, it's not like I'm regretting it or anything. I'm very self-aware of what's going on. But I think the song basically is just a reflection of that."

LA Women's EP, I was admiring her through a series of precision cut mirrors, is akin to a mini 'best of', encompassing all their singles so far, while also looking to the future with the previously unheard All Night – Lights Down Low. Particularly in the streaming era, Schdroski hopes that every LA Women track is distinct. "It's hard for me to write the same song twice. A lot of bands say, like, 'We can never write the same album twice – we'd get bored writing the same thing.' I find it hard to write the same song twice. I don't know – I think it's just me. [But] maybe other people have the same idea. I think maybe talk to Kanye West – he'll tell you a bit about that!"

Though Conscience emits a big city vibe, LA Women have travelled little. They lately visited Los Angeles for the first time, Schdroski recalling the encounter as "almost quite overwhelming". He laughs, "It's like, 'Man, this place is literally like what you see on the movies.'" Nonetheless, LA Women bunkered down for writing sessions with Sir Dylan, who notably co-produced Solange Knowles' Cranes In The Sky. "Dylan was definitely one of the most talented musicians I've ever worked with," Schdroski rhapsodises. "He's just so humble and super-cool." Still, LA Women are "pretty content" to stay in Auckland, where they now share a studio complex with others on Douglas' roster.

The question is whether LA Women plan to follow I was admiring… with an album. "We're working towards an album – I don't know when it'll come out, though," Schdroski responds. "I'm kind of hoping somewhere between the middle of next year and maybe end of next year. We've just been writing a whole lot of songs, so whether that turns into an album or a bunch of EPs… It just depends how we wanna put it out. I mean, in this day and age, when you've got a team behind you, you get advised to do things differently. So I think we're just weighing up our options on how we wanna release it to the world."