Photo by Tonje Thilesen 

Yesterday, producer, DJ, pianist, activist and Grateful Dead interpreter LP Giobbi announced her highly anticipated debut LP Light Places will release on May 12, 2023, via CounterRecords. In celebration of the announcement, LP Giobbi released a single off the record titled “Can’t Let You Go,” featuring the indie pop duo Little Jet on vocals.

The album is dedicated to LP Giobbi’s parents, who enkindled her free-spirited approach to life and music and also supported her goal to become a classically trained pianist. Her parents, much like herself, are lovers of the Grateful Dead, and in their honor, she pulled the words for the title of the project from the Grateful Dead’s “Scarlet Begonias.” She explained in a press release, “‘Once in a while You get shown the LIGHT In the strangest of PLACES If you look at it right.’ These are some of my dad’s favorite Dead lyrics and almost a philosophy for the way he lives and taught my brother and me to live.” She went on to add, “I am a seeker of light places both in the physical and the divine. I believe in letting yourself get lost and finding out it’s exactly where you were supposed to be. I hope this album helps you tap into your joy and light.”

Much of the album was created in airplanes as LP Giobbi traveled, connecting with melody without distractions. With the quiet hum of engines, she explored the possibilities of dance music outside the studio and high above dance floors in the clouds. By doing so she locked into improvisational jazz and jamband fundamentals; soon after the foundations were materialized, LP Giobbi was able to reach out to other artists to add to her work, tapping a lineup of impressive features, including SOFI TUKKER, DJ Tennis, Joseph Ashworth, Caroline Bryne and more.

Of the new single featuring Little Jet LP, Giobbi said, “I thought about my love for Polo & Pan and how fun it would be to make a song to be consumed during a pool time hang with friends. I sent the track to Little Jet – my favorite new band who is making music reminiscent of that amazing washed out / Beach House era but dare I say even more electronically savvy. They wrote the vocals ‘can’t let you go’ and also added some cool Juno synths.”

Throughout the offering, LP Giobbi continues to pay homage to the music, people and artists who helped shaped her soul through moments of individual and collaborative excellence. The resulting project reflects her own spirit for others to explore, with values that support family, exploration, equality and her love for another everlasting spirit, that of the Grateful Dead.

“I am grateful and proud to be raised by two magnificent Dead Heads who have danced their way through life seeking joy, sharing love and cherishing moments,” she added.

In January, LP Giobbi released a remix album of Jerry Garcia’s seminal 1972 debut, Garcia and performed at Dead & Company’s destination event, Playing in the Sand. Ahead of the release the artist spoke with Relix, and expressed her desire to show the beautiful world of the Grateful Dead to the dance music community.

Read Relix‘s interview with LP Giobbi here.

Listen to “Can’t Let You Go” below

Light Places Tracklist
1. Intro: Mother
2. If Love Is A Skill (feat. Sofi Tukker)
3. Can’t Let You Go (feat. Little Jet)
4. All I Need (Interlude)
5. All I Need
6. Another Life (feat. Caroline Byrne)
7. Georgia
8. Follow the Loop (feat. Le Chev)
9. Feels Just Like it (feat. Caroline Byrne)
10. Body Breathe (feat. Monogem)
11. All In A Dream (feat. DJ Tennis and Joseph Ashworth)
12. All My Life (feat. Sofi Tukker)
13. Outro: Not Fade Away