Getting downloaded with and by Safetynet

 

The artist at home

On December 25, 2023, Safetynet abruptly dropped her debut album, you will be downloaded into heavens web. I’ve known her for a while, and I resolved to ask her questions about her process. And now, almost exactly two months afterwards, the interview is finally available for public consumption.

Introduce yourself

Luxia: Hi, I’m Luxia Lain. I’m 21 years old, I live in Philly. (She/her)

How long have you been making music?

Luxia: I’ve had a musical background since childhood, but I really started messing with music technology through high school. I got really interested in producing my own electronic music when I was around that age, like 16 or 17. When I had a DAW to mess around with, for funsies.

WC: What are we listening to?

Luxia: This is Coil, Red Skeletons. This whole album is really good. It’s all, like, droning industrial sounds*.

Why do you keep changing the name of the project?

Luxia: I guess FAERIEFOUNTAIN was an exploration of the concepts I wanted to put out in music. And it felt like the phrases that encompass what my music is about. I always want my music to be very atmospheric, and there’s a focus on mood and energy at the forefront. So I guess when something feels like it doesn’t click with the mood of what I’m creating, then I would rather use a different name. Safetynet feels like an all encompassing term for the universe of music and art that I create. I still resonate with past pseudonyms that I’ve used, but I don’t feel like they’re representative of the things I create right now.

When did you start working on You Will Be Downloaded Into Heaven’s Web?

Luxia: I guess the first real creation I had from it was the last few songs on the album. Like Misted Soil and Warped Girl I had worked on throughout my first year of college. Before then I had been exploring making house beats and ambient projects. But my first committed project was as FAERIEFOUNTAIN when I released those two songs. And I just gradually followed that with, I guess a response to the sounds I created before as a profile of music.

WC: When did you decide to make it a full album rather than just being tracks?

Luxia: They kind of just accumulated, to be honest. Like, I… (coughs really violently) I feel like I have a tendency to revisit projects a lot, and set them down when I feel overwhelmed. Because making music is about being in a neutral state where I can focus creatively. So I kind of realized that I’ve been accumulating a lot of material that I didn’t show to anyone. I have been very secretive about the things that I create, because I didn’t feel like I was ready to show people what I was working on. At least until it reached, like, my vision of art. I think when I had accumulated 5 or 6 songs that felt like they encompassed the same general vibe, I was like “I could make a thing out of this”.

What did you produce it on?

Luxia: Logic. My computer isn’t charging right now, so I’m a little worried about that. And I just downloaded Ableton on my pc, so maybe I’ll switch it up. I’ve been meaning to learn, but the interface feels inaccessible, almost. There’s a little bit of a learning curve to understanding where everything is.

WC: What about hardware?

Luxia: A lot of my music is a similar repertoire of instrumentation as live performance. So I use my synth as a melodic instrument. It’s also really good for creating textural beats. But otherwise I just run random shit through an interface and chop up samples when I’m releasing my own music. A lot of it is just sampling and software, like modular synths. I’m attached to my hardware synth and pedal setup, so I like to incorporate that a lot too. I always try to see where I can fit it into something. 

Is the album about anything?

Luxia: Not particularly, I always think of music as a way to leverage my art into sound. There are moments on the album that have attached meaning to them. HRT Ballad is about dysphoria, if you listen to the lyrics. A lot of them have suggested meaning, but I don’t think I really attach myself too much to conceptual work.

What was the last part of the album finished?

Luxia: I think it was probably the third track, Cattail, was one of the first songs I started working on. But I just couldn’t get it mixed the way I wanted to, and I found myself getting really frustrated. So that was towards the end of the process when I was mixing everything together, and I wanted to fit this last song into the profile of the album. That definitely caused me the most trouble.

Where was the cover photo taken?

Luxia: I was in my car, I think my ex-boyfriend was driving me around, and the sky was really clear. I didn’t think too hard about the album cover, I might reupload a different album cover if something strikes my mind. I don’t know, I think I just like it as an ambient representation of what I’m trying to put forward. I wanted it to be low effort.

WC: I did consider trying to zoom in on the cover and see if I could find it based on the highway marker.

Luxia: It was on 295 I think. Let me take a look, ‘cause I don’t want to spew misinformation.

(Luxia spends nearly 20 seconds investigating the cover art on her phone in silence. Commerce Server by Oval is playing.)

Luxia: Oh yeah, this is definitely 295. This is near Marlton, probably, the sky’s pretty clear, ‘cause it’s really open space.

Live at Haus 1/26/24

Where’s the sample on Before We Go 2 Sleep from?

Luxia: Gabbie Hanna. It’s this video where, I’m pretty sure she’s in psychosis, God bless her, she’s, like, talking about homeless babies on the street. Just, like, meaningless rambling, like it’s so fucked up, the babies are on the street, and they’re praying for each other. I was like “good intro for shitty techno house” (laughing).

WC: Yeah, I guess.

What do you think are the best ten seconds of the album?

Luxia: I think my favorite part to look back on is always the endings of Stratosphere Staircase, Glass Butterfly Breaks, and Before We Go 2 Sleep all separately I think are fun little ten second things. The portion in Before We Go 2 Sleep where I use a repeater and chopped up breaks was fun for me to listen back to. I think there are some points in the first two songs that are mixed particularly well towards the end. Like when the overdriven kick in Glass Butterfly Breaks starts coming in. I remember playing that for people in the hospital, and them dancing to it, and it was very silly.

What are some of your favorite music artists?

Luxia: Currently I’ve been listening to a lot of witch house and sleaze. I’ve been listening to Snow Strippers and damon r. And Extra Small. But I think some of my all time favorite artists are Rezzett, Tim Hecker. A lot of notable electronic musicians are really important to me. Like, SOPHIE will always hold a place in my heart.

WC: A while ago Sam (friend of the blog, ETOX) said something about you and Raina (friend of the blog, Stranglet) to the effect of “I’m they hadn’t met before, given they’re both jewish trans girls who nearly named themselves Lain and love Bogdan Raczynski”.

Luxia: Yeah, Bogdan Raczynski is crucial to my music making process, I think about him constantly. I feel like for the first year of DJing, he made it into all of my mixes at least once or twice, just because it was such a good repertoire of breaks.

WC: Now I’m picturing taking that one album cover of his and taping it to your bedroom wall so you can wake up making eye contact with him.

Luxia: “Hello Bogdan, how are you? I’m soo good, I was just thinking about you, just wanted to let you know I care”

WC: just roll over and make eye contact with him.

Luxia: Ohmygod, heyyyy! I kind of would like that, I would ask a lot of questions.

What are some of your favorite non-musical artists?

Luxia: I’ve always been a fan of Yoshitomo Nara’s work. I really like soft sculpture particularly, and I remember looking at his gallery work and seeing the soft sculpture of teacups. I also really admire a lot of artists in my personal circle, different fiber, sculpture, printmaking artists. I always have admired my old professor Lauren Packer Dooney. She makes really crazy silkscreen and litho and all kinds of printing on fabric. Like crazy monotypes, really cool sculptural woodcuts. I really like mixed media, I think it's all very interesting.

WC: Are you at all a video game person?

Luxia: Yeah, for sure. I go in between phases of playing things, for a while it was, like, playing Bayonetta for hours a day. We love Katamari, and Katamari Damacy are some of my favorites. Big fan of any weird RPGs, like Hylics and Hylics 2.

WC: I kind of figured, I love Hylics.

Luxia: It’s by far one of my favorite pieces of art, I just really admire it. I made Hylics fanart in high school, and Mason Lindroth liked it, and responded to my dm. And it made me so happy, ‘cause he was behind the scoring for Hylics, and I really love a lot of the weird, droning, guitar shit.

WC: Oh, yeah. The Hylics soundtrack is one of my favorite game OSTs.

Luxia: For sure, for sure.

WC: It’s all such a mess, and it works so well.

Luxia: I also like the incorporation of more structured music in different parts of the game. There’s moments where I’m really locked in, and moments where I feel like I’m supposed to be smoking and lackadaisically wandering about

What’s the best show you’ve ever played?

Luxia: That's a good question. I think in terms of the most fun for me, I played hardcore night at Xenon, and that was very chill. But I also love performing any noise act, any time I get to perform with my hardware. I had a great time at Yarga this past week, actually, I think that was one of my favorite sets to do*. I was most satisfied with the end result, and I was glad to have a repertoire of music to showcase.

What’s your go to pre show meal?

Luxia: Water, and, like… I forget to eat a lot before performances, I usually try to fuel up on snacks.

WC: I ask most people I interview that, and they almost always say they’re too anxious to eat anything substantial.

Luxia: Yeah, I don’t eat anything real before a set, it's not on my mind. I think I get very one track minded when I’m trying to set everything up. It's always I have to get my actual live shit together, and then I immediately focus on sound testing. I tend to get ready pretty last minute for sets, unless it's a rave, ‘cause building up a playlist is a long endeavor.

Do you want to plug anything before we wrap up?

Luxia: Um, no, I have nothing. Check out my soundcloud, I post noise tapes and unreleased mixes there.

You can find you will be downloaded into heaven’s web here, on the aforementioned Soundcloud page

At Legoland 2/3/24

 Footnotes

“droning industrial sounds*.” She was playing music off of her phone throughout the entire interview, I only recognized one track she played, but if you want to recreate the experience, throw on whatever glitchy ambientish computer music you feel. I recommend Sora - re.sort.

“I think that was one of my favorite sets to do*.” This show was Safetynet, Grey0, St. Sol, and Custom Drum Destroyer (project of me and friend of the blog Sam) at Haus (of Yarga) on January 26, 2024. Shows how long I took to edit this.