3/25/25 ADDS
CURRENT
UPCOMING
RECENT
LIVE
ABOUT
LOVETEMPO
Live Or Die By Love(toucan sounds)
Add date: 2.25.2025
Release date: 2.21.2025
Links:
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Facebook
Instagram
Spotify
Tidal
TikTok
toucan sounds
Twitter
YouTube
“I like lovetempo.” – Gilles Peterson
lovetempo is the brainchild of Mattie Safer (singer and bassist for Poolside and The Rapture). Since its inception, Safer has moved with imagination and creativity, fusing saudade sentimentality and jazz-funk excursions with modern dancefloor sensibilities. Through body, soul, and basslines, lovetempo explores the travails and triumphs of the heart. On its 2023 self-titled debut, lovetempo celebrated the joys and pains of new love. Following this, lovetempo paid homage to enduring devotion with a cover of Anita Baker’s “Same Ole Love.”
In 2024, lovetempo released two captivating singles: “But I Do,” an acid-jazz club banger that navigates the addictive paradox of a tumultuous love that feels too good to relinquish, and “Maybe In Another Life,” a slow-disco burner built around soaring strings, a relentless groove, and a question: what happens when the right people fall in love at the wrong time?
Now in 2025, lovetempo returns with a new four-song EP, Live Or Die By Love, on toucan sounds.
“‘Live Or Die By Love’, to me, serves as both a manifesto and a mantra,” says Safer. “The idea that no matter the hardships or suffering life presents, love remains a constant, guiding force that leads us forward. No matter the heartbreaks, I believe that there’s a love out there for all of us. ” The EP includes three original tracks: the 90s house-influenced “Live Or Die By Love” and two smooth disco cuts, "We Can Make It Happen" and "Part-Time Love Affair." The title track receives a remix from the legendary Eric Kupper, celebrated for his collaborations with Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, and Arthur Baker, as well as his solo remixes and productions.
lovetempo’s 2024 singles garnered widespread acclaim, with strong radio support from BBC 6Music, KCRW, and Jazz FM, including legendary DJ Gilles Peterson, who championed the tracks on his BBC and Worldwide FM shows. Spotify featured both singles on playlists like Pollen and Fresh Finds, further cementing their reach across audiences. lovetempo’s self-titled debut (released on Razor-N-Tape) also garnered heavy airplay on KCRW and other like-minded stations, leading to a U.S. tour with 79.5 and headlining dates in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Austin.
“lovetempo is in many ways the perfect musical project for me,” says Safer. “It gives me an avenue to explore the soul, disco, and house music that makes up my list of desert island delights, and the mental space to work through, with my lyrics, both the loneliness, longing, and the sublime sweetness of modern romance.”
Mattie Safer first gained acclaim as a bassist and vocalist with dance-rock pioneers The Rapture, whose 2003 debut Echoes was named Pitchfork’s Album of the Year and introduced a generation to dance music. Currently a member of daytime disco pioneers Poolside, Safer has collaborated with luminaries such as James Murphy, Paul Epworth, Timbaland, and Danger Mouse.
Safer began working on lovetempo while touring Europe with Poolside in early 2020. “I had a broken heart and wanted to make some music to dance the pain away,” says Safer. “So I started writing songs, programming beats, and recording bass, synth, and vocal parts in hotel rooms and during the downtime between soundchecks and shows.” Returning home just before the pandemic lockdown, Safer continued to refine lovetempo’s sound from his Brooklyn bedroom, enlisting remote collaborators: keyboardist Morgan Wiley (Adi Oasis, Midnight Magic), percussionists Brijean Murphy (Brijean, Poolside) and Alberto Lopez (Ruben Blades, LCD Soundsystem), vocalists Mel Chambers and Meka Brown, co-producer/saxophonist Grant Zubritsky (Chet Faker, Mitski), and mixer Abe Seiferth (Nation of Language, Guerilla Toss).
From humble hotel room beginnings, lovetempo has grown into an innovative creative force, renowned for its live shows with a 6-piece band drawing from Safer’s rich rolodex of New York musicians to create a kinetic, hypnotic musical experience. With its unique blend of influences and captivating sound, lovetempo has captured the ears and hearts of listeners from Paris to São Paulo to downtown LA.
Apple Music
Bandcamp
Spotify
Tidal
TikTok
toucan sounds
YouTube
“I like lovetempo.” – Gilles Peterson
lovetempo is the brainchild of Mattie Safer (singer and bassist for Poolside and The Rapture). Since its inception, Safer has moved with imagination and creativity, fusing saudade sentimentality and jazz-funk excursions with modern dancefloor sensibilities. Through body, soul, and basslines, lovetempo explores the travails and triumphs of the heart. On its 2023 self-titled debut, lovetempo celebrated the joys and pains of new love. Following this, lovetempo paid homage to enduring devotion with a cover of Anita Baker’s “Same Ole Love.”
In 2024, lovetempo released two captivating singles: “But I Do,” an acid-jazz club banger that navigates the addictive paradox of a tumultuous love that feels too good to relinquish, and “Maybe In Another Life,” a slow-disco burner built around soaring strings, a relentless groove, and a question: what happens when the right people fall in love at the wrong time?
Now in 2025, lovetempo returns with a new four-song EP, Live Or Die By Love, on toucan sounds.
“‘Live Or Die By Love’, to me, serves as both a manifesto and a mantra,” says Safer. “The idea that no matter the hardships or suffering life presents, love remains a constant, guiding force that leads us forward. No matter the heartbreaks, I believe that there’s a love out there for all of us. ” The EP includes three original tracks: the 90s house-influenced “Live Or Die By Love” and two smooth disco cuts, "We Can Make It Happen" and "Part-Time Love Affair." The title track receives a remix from the legendary Eric Kupper, celebrated for his collaborations with Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, and Arthur Baker, as well as his solo remixes and productions.
lovetempo’s 2024 singles garnered widespread acclaim, with strong radio support from BBC 6Music, KCRW, and Jazz FM, including legendary DJ Gilles Peterson, who championed the tracks on his BBC and Worldwide FM shows. Spotify featured both singles on playlists like Pollen and Fresh Finds, further cementing their reach across audiences. lovetempo’s self-titled debut (released on Razor-N-Tape) also garnered heavy airplay on KCRW and other like-minded stations, leading to a U.S. tour with 79.5 and headlining dates in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Austin.
“lovetempo is in many ways the perfect musical project for me,” says Safer. “It gives me an avenue to explore the soul, disco, and house music that makes up my list of desert island delights, and the mental space to work through, with my lyrics, both the loneliness, longing, and the sublime sweetness of modern romance.”
Mattie Safer first gained acclaim as a bassist and vocalist with dance-rock pioneers The Rapture, whose 2003 debut Echoes was named Pitchfork’s Album of the Year and introduced a generation to dance music. Currently a member of daytime disco pioneers Poolside, Safer has collaborated with luminaries such as James Murphy, Paul Epworth, Timbaland, and Danger Mouse.
Safer began working on lovetempo while touring Europe with Poolside in early 2020. “I had a broken heart and wanted to make some music to dance the pain away,” says Safer. “So I started writing songs, programming beats, and recording bass, synth, and vocal parts in hotel rooms and during the downtime between soundchecks and shows.” Returning home just before the pandemic lockdown, Safer continued to refine lovetempo’s sound from his Brooklyn bedroom, enlisting remote collaborators: keyboardist Morgan Wiley (Adi Oasis, Midnight Magic), percussionists Brijean Murphy (Brijean, Poolside) and Alberto Lopez (Ruben Blades, LCD Soundsystem), vocalists Mel Chambers and Meka Brown, co-producer/saxophonist Grant Zubritsky (Chet Faker, Mitski), and mixer Abe Seiferth (Nation of Language, Guerilla Toss).
From humble hotel room beginnings, lovetempo has grown into an innovative creative force, renowned for its live shows with a 6-piece band drawing from Safer’s rich rolodex of New York musicians to create a kinetic, hypnotic musical experience. With its unique blend of influences and captivating sound, lovetempo has captured the ears and hearts of listeners from Paris to São Paulo to downtown LA.
photos by Jessica Gurewitz: