Lux Solaire describes themselves as “An experiment that seeks to find a path to the soul of the author; and art project.”
I caught up with Dimetriy Starkgard-Venier aka Lux Solaire to talk about their early musical experiences, how they started playing music and the making of their new record “Bledny Ognik”.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artists or bands did you enjoy the most?
Lux Solaire-The first person who introduced me to music was my grandfather. He was passionate about classical music, British acts like The Beatles, and American jazz. He had a big vinyl collection of Jazz and Blues. He would play me different records (i cant remember which one) and actually i loved the most of what he played for me. Then one day he gave me a compilation CD of classical music with Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi and others. My life changed. I remember dancing to them in my room after school, imagining fantasy scenarios in my head. I love this music so much. That was my first real relationship with compositions and different type of sounds.
CMM-How did you start playing music and developing its sound?
Lux Solaire-I attended music school for a while, I sang in a choir and played in a small orchestra. Later i continued to learn music by myself. But the deeper pull came in my teenage years, when I started listening to more and more music, gradually moving into sounds and genres that had previously felt completely inaccessible to me. I started to understand music and what’s behind it. I wanted to find a way to express something through music that I couldn’t express any other way. For example, I really love pop music, but I always felt that it couldn’t carry what I want to carry through my experience. Experimental music felt different, the non-standard techniques, the unconventional structures it kind of opened my eyes to the possibilities of how music can sound. It felt like something magical to me. Still does.
CMM-You recently released a record called “Bledny Ognik”. What was the writing and recording process for those tracks like? Any particular gear or instruments you used during the recording sessions that helped inspire you?
Lux Solaire-“Bledny Ognik” is a start of my project and was a deeply personal release. This song is a reflection of my gratitude for my mental health hospital. I have mental problems and they helped me so much. It literally feels like a second home, almost another world entirely. And the name of this song is a creature like “Will-o-the-wisp” from Slavic folklore and translating like “faint flame”. I associated myself with this creature. Speaking of technical side, I recorded birdsong and nature sounds while walking around the hospital on a voice recorder. All the instruments you hear in the track are random melodies I recorded during music therapy sessions. I played the piano, ukulele, mandolin, mbira, and xylophone. I experimented with mandolin — playing out of tune and upside down. The whole point of this is to convey emotions, not to follow the music theory. It’s pure improvisation and what I call Intermelody. You just feel it. Then I simply mixed the tracks in DAW and edited the sounds to create a more harmonious and magical atmosphere.
CMM- If you could score any film director’s movie who would it be and what would the film be about?
Lux Solaire-I don’t think in terms of directors very often, but if it comes to contemporary filmmakers, it would be Robert Eggers. I’m drawn to dark fantasy and folklore, something with a medieval atmosphere, magical and strange. I’d like to compose the score for a film exactly with this vibe, something that feels ancient in some way.
CMM-What do you have coming up next?
Lux Solaire-I’m currently preparing to release the debut album for my project, which is set to come out this summer. It was recorded back in 2023 and has a rather unique story behind it. It was recorded in a concrete hall over the course of five nights, without any light sources. I used non-musical techniques to convey the melody and simulate musical effects. This album expresses the sensations elicited by my neurodivergent experiences and the mental state I was in while recording it. The album itself is inspired by electroacoustic, drone, and ambient music.
