Lovetempo: NY Slice Session 2025

Recording as Lovetempo, Mattie Safer brings  a lot of heart and groove to his music. His primary genre is dance, but there are a lot of different sounds incorporated through that disco filter: soul, funk, indie rock, Latin and jazz.

Brooklyn-based Safer might be best known through his work with The Rapture or Poolside, but for the past couple of years he's focused on his new project, Lovetempo, which he founded in 2020 while on tour with Poolside and mending a broken heart. Earlier in September, Safer as Lovetempo released a new single, "The Right Way."  Safer is looking ahead to a debut album from Lovetempo.

I first played the band around the time of Lovetempo's excellent self-titled EP in 2023 and his new music has impressed me since then. I asked him to play FUV's "NY Slice Showcase"at Baker Falls for NY Music Month earlier this year — and invited Safer and his bandmates for this session in Studio A.

As a bonus, I discovered that three other "NY Slice" bands were represented in this live version of Lovetempo: Tipa Tipo drummer Jordan Auber from Tipa Tipo, singer Lola Adanna of 79.5,  and HNRY FLWR's Mel Chambers on keys and vocals. Pianist Ken Aihara and percussionist Daniel Del Carpio were also in the house.

Check out that new single from Lovetempo, "The Right Way" in this session, along with "There is a Light" — plus Safer took the "NY Slice" pop quiz too.

[Recorded 6/9/25; Engineered by Jim O'Hara with Erin Merriman and Holden Buckley; produced by Meghan Suma. Videographers: Alena Godas, Adithi Vimalanathan, and Alena Godas.]