If there is a central theme to the record, Lemaitre says, it lies in his attempt “to play with distance the way it plays with us”. As a man born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia, and now living some 6,500 miles away in Berlin, Germany, he knows what he’s talking about. Latitude, however, is far from unfocussed, even if its influences are unusually incongruous. Buried within its soul are echoes of contemporary songwriters like Sufjan Stevens and Jose Gonzales – as well as older, more established names like Tim Buckley and Serge Gainsbourg – but the likes of Nicholas Jaar and Four Tet have also played a significant role. “They inspired me a lot to work with textures as a compositional tool,” Lemaitre states admiringly. “I like to think of every instrument and element in a song as a percussive element and to let them roll and roll against each other. Rhythm is the most innate of all the musical elements for me. This probably comes not only from my Bolivian background, but also from my love of electronic music. That’s why I love sampling coins and corn flake boxes, like in ‘Jacques Cousteau’ or the suitcase drums in ‘Pandora Express’.”
