SPILL FEATURE: AB + ZERO + ONE – A CONVERSATION WITH LUCY DREAMS

AB + ZERO + ONE

A CONVERSATION WITH LUCY DREAMS

Lucy Dreams is a fascinating and unique band who produce their own distinct sound and style. Yes, they may be influenced by other artists, but when their music comes on, it certainly stands out on its own. Maybe because the (sort of) trio work in another realm. The band consists of two members, Zero and One, as they are known, and are joined by a virtual third member, Lucy. Let’s be clear, Lucy is not AI, but rather something very different. It is best if Zero explains. I caught up with him recently in his home in Vienna, and we talked about this band and how Lucy became a member.

“We try to create an artistic persona that people can identify with and also project onto and find out more about themselves”, Zero explained about their names Zero and One. “This is why we try to be as impersonal as possible in order to give people this surface of protection.”

This makes good sense, but again, this doesn’t mean their music is cold or lacking warmth. One spin of their new single, Quite the opposite is true. They produce music that embraces the listener and brings them into the world of Lucy Dreams.

“We work together with an artificial band member. We were fooling around in the studio in 2019 with the pedals we had in the rock and indie bands. It was in the middle of the night, so we had seven effect pedals chained to each other. So, we turned all the effect pedals on to seven, eight, nine. In order for this to work and create magic, they had to be at a certain level. The effects eventually worked their magic and all of sudden the system, the chain of effects, started to create a vibe of its own. We were sending sounds into it, and all of a sudden in the white noise and as it built up, we started to hear patterns in this white noise, in the ocean of sound. We adjusted a couple of things, and all of a sudden these melodies that we found in this white noise became clearer.”

PHOTO CREDIT: SIMON KURO

This was the start of using sound to form songs and music for the band. “We thought, why don’t we use these patterns as the basis of new songs, which we ended up doing. So we sent sounds into the system, who we ended up calling Lucy. When she processes our sound she dreams, hence, Lucy Dreams. And based on what Lucy produces for us, we write the songs. So her ideas are the basis for new songs.”

But again, this is not artificial intelligence. They call Lucy ‘AB’, an Artificial Band member, not AI for a very good reason. “AI has a lot to do with data mining. Lucy does not. We did not want to claim the status of AI and we wanted to be distinct. And she is pretty interesting. We see Lucy as a medium through which we manifest in the virtual world. And vice versa.”

Even though their music is based in electronica, this is not where the members of the band started musically. In fact, for Zero, his taste in music changed over the years as did the bands in he played.

“Both of us walked through all genres of music. For myself, we started listening to punk when we were skateboarding when we were 15, which in my case turned into metal and metal bands. Heavily influenced by a band called Deaftones, which is still my absolute favourite band. Moving away from metal, I got into softer music like Arcade Fire, I was immediately intrigued by what they did. Their melodies…my mind opened up to more melodic music. And then at the age of 30, something very interesting happened. A friend of mine opened a club. I wasn’t into electronic music at all. But all of a sudden, going to this club, because my friend opened it, I thought, ‘holy cow! There are some very interesting bits in techno, house, and electronic music in general. Then I started to really listen to it. It is the, what we say in Austria, melange of all those styles that eventually ended up influencing what we do now.”

The band, based in Vienna, is not a studio band, given their member Lucy. In fact, Lucy Dreams is getting set for a Canadian tour, which they are very excited about and looking forward to. “We grew up in the countryside of Austria, but we moved to Vienna 10 years ago, as it is the only place where it makes sense to be a musician, given the connections to the other cities in Europe and Canada. And also the music scene, in terms of labels and so on, are in Vienna. But I have to say I leave the city as much as possible and the tour of Canada is our biggest tour so far. We have played shows in Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, and a lot in the U.K. With the tour of Canada in August, it is just the next natural step for us.  It’s playing live is what music comes alive for real, which is why we try to be around as much as possible,” said Zero. “When you play live there is this special connection between you and the people. When you have this intimate moment of a live performance, it’s just the best. This is the prime discipline of music in my opinion.”

PHOTO CREDIT: SIMON KURO

For Lucy Dreams, it is the excitement of getting out of the studio and seeing their audience react to their music. “You on stage try to create something in the moment, together with the audience, you create this moment. And the audience, in the best case, are affected by what you do and they show their affection, which makes you want to do even more, which makes the audience go crazy even more. It is a cycle. Also, getting to know people all around the world is fucking amazing.”

“In July, we will leave society for a week. We go to a hut in the Austrian mountains. We bring all of our recording stuff, keyboards, guitars and of course Lucy, with the goal of creating a full-length album.

“We can’t wait to land in Toronto on August 16. Everyone seems so open and excited and we are excited to be there. And of course, Lucy will be onstage with us.”

Although Lucy is not AI, Zero and Lucy Dreams are not fearful of new technology. In fact, they realize that on some levels, they will have to embrace new tools in music. And to them, AI is just another tool, like a synthesizer, or guitar. “What is very, very interesting is what is happening. Now people say not AI. People will say that everything produced by AI is not interesting to me. People have to start making up their minds about completely new forms of art. This is my opinion, it is the seismic shift that we can expect in the months or years. AI can recreate everything, so I have to create something new. We will not ever run out of ideas, but we will have to incorporate music always as a societal development, like a community development. As it was with the case with hip hop, punk and now we have development in the virtual world. People will come up with ideas on how to incorporate this in positive ways. So, there will be new dynamics.”

Artist Links

Main Photo Credit: Monika Jungwirth | Background Photo Credit: Amy Ryan

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