Growing up in Minnesota, life constantly took multi-instrumentalist and producer Lutalo back and forth across the Mississippi River, through the beating heart of the Twin Cities, from their home in Minneapolis to school in St Paul. In 2022, life is suddenly – but gently – very different. Last year Lutalo and their partner moved east, to settle among the green peaks of Vermont, having taken ownership of an area of land with the intention of building a small community for themselves. The aim is to accomplish a long-held dream: to live life differently, to invest in and create something tangible that can be passed on to future generations. The to-and-fro of that early life has been replaced by something altogether more steady, a burning desire to not get so caught up in the intensity of the world.

For now, Lutalo’s world consists of new pastures and new beginnings, the search for brightness in spite of all the dark. They remain optimistic in attitude, steadfast in their belief that change can only happen when you believe in a better future. “At the same point you also have to recognise that this is also your time to be alive,” Lutalo says, “and to try to find beauty in those moments and focus on the smaller details: to watch the water trickle down the stream, to see the ice as it melts from the rooftops.”