LUMINIST

Luminist is an electronic artist based in Sydney, Australia. Influenced by film and videogame soundtracks, he uses synthesized and organic sounds to make emotional electronic music.

Greatest inspirations or influences?

I find inspiration in a lot of different ways, but some of my favourite sources lie outside of music altogether. I really enjoy seeing new works in an art gallery for example, especially abstract or absurd art. 

I find it incredibly inspiring to see masterful works in disciplines that I do not practice - there are always visible signs showing how hard the artist worked to achieve the end result, no matter what type of art you're consuming.  I think it's valuable to experience that in a lateral way - every one of those experiences can inform your own creative process and I love that.

Tell us about your creative process

My musical process is generally started by an emotion or feeling that I want to convey - sometimes it's from a personal place, or sometimes it's to help define an existing story (for example, a videogame soundtrack like Atone). Once I latch onto that specific feeling it's much easier to define a structure to evoke things further - a chord progression, an arpeggiated motif etc. After the basic structure has presented itself, I'll look at things like melody, and then production flourishes to round things out. It's not a hard and fast process, but that's generally how I tend to work.

How did the pandemic affect your creativity?

The pandemic was pretty difficult for me creatively - I was burnt out from a big project, and being stuck in Sydney's covid lockdowns for several months meant I had a lot of time on my hands. When you have a lot of free time but you're exhausted, it's like this weird limbo state; your body and mind need rest, but there's guilt involved because no work is getting done. It's taken quite a long time to recover fully from that, but I'm feeling good lately! 

How would you describe your music?

I would describe my music as an emotional journey through ethereal spaces and waves of electronics. I always want my listeners to feel something; whether that be nostalgia, danger, calm or something more abstract. Going forward I'm going to be working on more soundtrack material as well as more traditional releases - experimenting more with transforming electronic sounds into organic textures, and incorporating acoustic instruments into electronic dance music. 

What does well- being mean to you?

I'm learning as time goes by that well-being means listening to your body, and letting your mind rest. Sometimes you need to take a step back and enjoy something head empty for a while. Burnout can be really heavy, so I'm making sure to not work myself to the bone these days - and feeling much better for it!

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Photo credit Christo Herriot