LUXE, a young producer, DJ, and composer, makes her official debut with the blazing first album called ‘Belonging EP.‘ The classically educated musician exhibits a varied sound that draws on the spirit of breakbeat, progressive house, and trance throughout four tracks. It’s a sonic identity she established during her time in Manchester’s northern dance capital, where she honed her musical abilities.
The ‘Belonging EP’ depicts a voyage through the electronic world, merging elements of the past with the creative freedom of an unknown future. The first track, ‘May I Help You,’ is a psychedelic combination of breakbeat and dubstep that sets the tone for a mind-bending journey. It’s an aesthetic that LUXE expands on on ‘Everything Must Fade,’ as he shows an experimental, distorted take on trance that’s bolstered by a slew of alluring voices. ‘A83’ is a club tune that features the artist at her hardest, with a chuggy, rolling bassline that is sure to light up dancefloors throughout the world.
We find an artist who is unafraid to take risks, demonstrating a real statement of intent for what is to come. LUXE, who is now living in London, continues to make huge gains, the most recent of which being her appointment as a resident at Percolate. With an early broadcast of ‘A83’ on BBC Introducing and DJ Mag labelling her as an artist to watch, LUXE’s future is undeniably bright.
In an interview with the young musician, we discover her footsteps into electronic music, get intoxicated with her identity discovery and, find out about her future plans.
Living in London as a producer and DJ, how are you finding the music scene right now?
Right now, I’m finding the music scene really exciting. It feels like people are having more open conversations about issues within the scene and ideas are blooming as a result. I think people are getting behind new ideas, artists, and collectives and supporting one another which is great to see.
It’s said you spent time in Manchester where you developed your identity, is the music scene there different to London?
The scene is different but I don’t think there’s any point trying to compare them too much as they are completely different cities. The scene in Manchester is so special as it’s super tight-knit and everyone knows everyone which is really nice. It’s a wonderful melting pot of different corners of the music scene, and one of my favourite things is how music the queer scene/community makes up so much of the scene there. In London the ‘queer scene’ feels much more separate there’s still lots of integration, but there are like more definitive queer nights and then ones that are less so. In Manchester, it feels like everyone is mixed together and that’s special.
And how did your identity develop?
I would say my identity developed in terms of building confidence as an artist, whilst exploring lots of new music and meeting so many amazing people. The community-driven attitudes upheld by people in the scene in Manchester and simultaneously having a space like the @therec.centre to hang out with your mates and play tunes, listen to music and consistently be surrounded by it all definitely shaped me as an artist and helped build my confidence massively. I’ve got to mention Chris aka Sonice (@selectors_on_ice) who runs The Rec Centre, as this space has undoubtedly been so important for many people, and a big part in helping shape lots of artists I’m sure. This space and everyone who frequented it felt like such a constant when I lived in Manchester and I feel lucky to have felt part of something so special.
You take influence from a huge range of genres, including house, trance, techno, dubstep, jungle, breakbeat to name a few. Do you think it’s important to explore all different sounds? If yes, how come?
I feel as though I’m very naturally drawn to picking up influences from all over the place. I find it frustrating when things are overly ‘genrefied’ and pigeonholed, and by extension when artists are squeezed and confined by boundaries and have a kind of expectation placed on them. So yes, exploring and taking influence from lots of different avenues of sound is something that is important to me and is definitely at the centre of how I create. Being pigeon-holed into a certain style or specific output is something I’d always want to avoid.
Can you tell us a bit about your latest EP release ‘BELONGING’, what does this body of work represent?
This body of work represents where I’m at currently in terms of current strong influences up to this point in time. I wanted it to feel cohesive of what I’ve been really enjoying and into over the past couple of years, and how my production style has developed. I wanted to set the tone of who I am as a producer with this EP and lay down a path to enable me to explore different musical avenues for future releases.
How do you want people to feel whilst listening to the EP?
Free and excited for life!!!
Are you going to perform the EP live? Have you got any shows lined up, can you tell us a bit about them?
Curating and performing a live show is a real ambition of mine and something that I’m working towards. It really feels like the next step for me, so I’m excited to cultivate my ideas and finetune my skills going down that avenue. I’ve got a lot of shows coming up that I’m looking forward to – some coming up soon that I’m looking forward to are a show at Patterns in Brighton on 12th February for Accidental Meetings alongside Pinch and dBridge, and then on the 18th a headline show at The Waiting Room in Stoke Newington for Tussle.
Where do you see your music progressing over the next couple of years?
As I’ve already mentioned, I see musical output as a very fluid thing, and I’m already making a lot of music that is going in a slightly different direction to this EP. I’ve been working on really trying to take the pressure off myself in terms of feeling like there needs to be a super cohesive progression in terms of my releases and trust that my ‘sound’ will carry across everything I make. I’m feeling more settled in that idea now, so watch this space for more genre-bending music!