A Chat With Left At London
After Nat Puff misread a sign at a local business, Left At London was born. Based in Seattle, Washington, Left At London is the perfect singer-songwriter artist. She is a unique trans singer who incorporates her daily struggles into honest and catchy songs.
Nat cares about her fans and the music she is making. Truly, if you do not listen to her already, you should. She is not afraid to be herself. A few days ago, I had the chance to talk and to learn more about the artist we know as Left At London.
I recently read that you have had some difficulties with keeping a solid band lineup which lead you to be a solo musician. What have you learned from these experiences? Is there any advice you would give for someone in the same position?
I learned that I work the best alone, to be completely honest. When I collaborated with the people I did, I was in Junior High and High School. I have since collaborated and jammed out with friends, but honestly most of the time it's hard for me to articulate exactly what it is that I want. So I like working alone until somebody asks me to work with them, essentially.
From that idea, what do you enjoy and hate most about being a solo musician?
Freedom. I don't have to worry about everybody getting a fair share of songs being written, and I don't have to worry about schedules not collaborating. I can just... be an artist.
With all of your experience in the music industry, is there anything that you wish would change?
There's a lot that I'd wish to change, but the biggest thing is mostly just how the attention gets divvied up. I know I made an EP called Transgender Street Legend, but people assume it's only for trans people. Honestly, it's more about my experience being gay than my experience being trans. "I DON'T TRUST U ANYMORE" is the only song that even alludes to my transness.
The following you have on Twitter and Instagram is great! How has your presence on Vine boosted your spirits about being a creator and sharing your thoughts online?
Y'know, it's funny that you mention that because my following on vine has always been lower than my following on twitter and instagram. I only had 13k followers on vine when it shut down, yet so many of my vines have been taken for other people's vine compilations, that I have facial recognition now. I'm not mad about that, however. Honestly, I'm mostly bothered by it because all of them were pretransition. People don't know how hot I am now! Overall I'm grateful, I just never want my vines to overshadow what I really want front and center—my art.
What has been the best fan interaction through your socials?
@ferndoodles on twitter made so much fan art of me that eventually I commissioned them for the I DONT TRUST U ANYMORE single artwork, and a children's book that I wrote for my niece (which I might release for funzies one day).
You released Transgender Street Legend, Vol. 1 back in November, which has four amazing tracks! What was the best part about creating these songs?
All songs except for "I DONT TRUST U ANYMORE" were written because of my girlfriend Xoe. I didn't even know I was gonna make a second EP in 2018. But alas, meeting Xoe opened up a lot of opportunities for me, not just in a romantic sense. She helped me find the person who's currently managing me, she named "Waiting on a Ghost", "I Split My Ribs Open" samples one of the songs she released on Soundcloud, and "Revolution Lover", of course, is about her. I think my favorite part of the process was getting Open Mike Eagle's verse in my email. I was in a cafe having a conversation with Xoe that I couldn't interrupt with "omgomgomgomg i got the verse" so I had to wait until we got home to spill the truth to her. She knew I was excited to get that verse, so we listened to it together and absolutely loved it. I mentioned this on Genius, but the reason the song is titled I Split My Ribs Open was because I told OME that that's what I wanted the song to be titled, even though it was nowhere in my song lyrics. I guess he wanted to make the song title matter a bit more.
Is there anything big coming this year? What can we expect from you in 2019?
Well, I am working on an album. I'll tell people the title soon, I swear, I just want to finish it first. Plus, I'm looking to do more live shows.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us?
I'm gay.
Bandcamp: https://leftatlondon.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeftAtLondon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leftatlondon/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/leftatlondon
