A body of work is far more challenging to pull off compared to a single offering. Conceptualising is pinnacle – there’s nothing worse than a project that is a bunch of good songs that don’t make sense together. With her new EP, The Valentine Effect, Australian talent Lucille Croft has taken on the task with confidence and commitment, evolving further into an accomplished artist who is in a lane of their own.

The project follows her successful debut EP, Patient X, which brought the singer the currency of popularity and has since gone on to refine her style and image. Heavily tied to role play and fashion with searing sonic soundscape’s flowing beneath, Croft’s wide ranging sonic inspiration can be seen in abundance across the something track set list, with the influence of industrial techno, rock, pop, bass and more amalgamated into a sound that feels unique to the artist whilst recognisable and relatable. The songwriter constructing a provoking narrative that builds around a new character and theme of challenging the way you see yourself, the way you think and to welcome the beauty of the unknown.

A fabulous project that is the strongest showcase of Lucille Croft’s artistic manifesto to date, there is scores of ideas and emotions to delve through across the EP. Due to this, we felt that we simply had to catch up with Lucille to take a deep dive into the EP and discuss her musical origins.

Stream The Valentine Effect…

Read the interview below…

Hey Lucille! Where are we speaking to you from?
I just got back to my apartment in LA, I’m pretty jetlagged. I just got back from 3 months at home (in Australia) – where I did a really fun AU / NZ / Asia tour. It felt SO nice to spend some time at home, I feel human again. I do feel happy to be back here though, I feel refreshed, and very excited.

What’s the last thing you thought about before you went to bed last night?
Shibari. I’ve been getting really into it lately, I was thinking last night about how I could make a full bodysuit out of rope as a stage outfit? It feels like a great idea in theory, but in reality it would possibly fall apart or undo on stage. Perhaps I should find someone to practice on.

Were there any artists or bands that you listened to growing up that influenced you to make music?
Nine Inch Nails would have to be my all-time biggest inspiration. What really drew me into them, which started my LOVE for music, was the 0 fucks that Trent Reznor gave. NIN sang about politics, sex, violence, heartbreak – no filters or censoring their art. That energy really inspired me, and I carry that energy into what I do now as much as I can. Bjork and Grimes were very exciting to me, as such innovative and experimental female artists that created such interesting music I never even imagined to exist. I found inspiration in a lot of things outside of music too. I’ve always really loved art, I used to stare at paintings and artworks – and see sounds in them. The colours / textures etc, they all represented sounds to me, but I couldn’t really make much sense of it until I started exploring music. Now I make moodboards with colours and scribbles that represent how I want a song to sound.

Who is on your current rotation, now?
FKA Twigs – I seem to have been living under a rock and only recently realized how phenomenal she is. Also Sevdaliza, Ashnikko, Brutalismus 3000, Boy Harsher, Fenrick, Wargasm… everything from alt pop to metal to brutal techno.

Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
Yes (unfortunately). It’s a little horrifying, but also satisfying to hear how far I’ve come since then. It was called “Words aren’t the way I express myself”. It was kind of dark ambient experimental techno? I still like the title, I might revisit the concept… stay tuned.

Did you play it for anyone?
I played it for someone who I was kind of seeing at the time, who made a comment about me perhaps considering pursuing something else as a career lol. That was a red flag for me, so I ended things and continued to pursue music. It’s worked out so far!

Your debut project Patient X explores what it’s like to be a woman in the industry. Could you talk us through how you conceptualised this?
I’m a gamer, a lot of my inspiration for my work comes from that. I had something I wanted to say, and I wanted to express it in the EP. I created Patient X as a fictional character, who had her own story that matched with the songs. Essentially, she was taken in by an evil corporation who were trying to perform a ‘mind control’ experiment and control her, and it went horribly wrong, so with her new powers and post-human form she goes on this rampage of pleasure and destruction. The ‘evil corporation’ to me was symbolic of the music industry, and things I’d experienced – such as being told what to wear, what to play, what to make, sexualising me, disrespecting me, not taking me seriously, etc. I was feeling quite angry at the time, so Patient was a very fun and satisfying outlet, which included songs like “Out for Blood”. I wore a latex bodysuit with swords on the cover, I wanted to feel like how I saw the character – powerful and deadly.

World building is integral to your latest project The Valentine Effect. How do you use this as a tool for your artistry?
Listening to music to me is just a part of the ‘experience’ of music. I think how and where you’re listening to it impacts how you absorb and experience the song. I love to build worlds around my music, something that the listener can truly immerse themselves in. After all, for me, music is kind of a form of escapism, I’m sure it’s the same for many others out there too. I think about that a lot with every element, from the artwork details, to the videos, to how I start and finish each song.

You’ve described this EP as a psychological experience for the listener. How did you set out to make the project immersive?
Well, I had some killer video concepts, unfortunately being an independent artist I was short about 100k. I mostly try to capture in and immerse the listener with the audio itself. Usually for each release I give the listener recommendations on how to best listen and ‘experience’ the song. The Valentine Effect itself is a psychological order I made up. I was thinking about life and death, and all the conspiracies and theories about it all. I do leave it open to interpretation for the listener on what TVE is, but to me, it’s life itself. Is any of this real? Are we alive, or just breathing? Are we living to die, or dying to live? Are we so focused on death, that we’re not really living and experiencing life to the fullest? Each song has its own unique visual story. For example, for “Taste of Violence” – to me this is the cutscene before you fight the boss of the game. She’s antagonising you, she’s challenging you, she’s daring you to fight. I tried to give that energy in the artwork.

You’ve toured a lot – from the US, to Australia, and Asia. How does the energy differ when performing for different crowds?
I think each country and culture has its own unique energy, which is something I really love to experience. Different cultures grow up on different sounds and tastes, so it’s really fun trying different styles of my music and seeing what excites them, what shocks them, what confuses them.

What are the best and worst things about touring, in your opinion?
I really love to see and explore new cultures, so that’s probably my favourite part with getting to travel. Going to the local clubs, bars, museums, etc. I especially love going to different aquariums. Worst thing would be the late shows/early flights. Sometimes I finish a show at 3am, and have to be at the airport an hour later for check-in. That part gets pretty rough, but I’ve picked up many travel hacks to make it bearable.

Lastly, how do you see your artistry evolving in the future?
Evolution is something that really excites me, and I’ll continue to explore til die. I want absolutely everything to evolve – the music, my characters, the brand, the show, ME, all of it. I think I’ve really found my sound in the last year, so now I want to build the next bodies of work and the live show around it, make everything bigger, louder, bolder. I’m really excited to explore new characters in my music too, and build an immersive experience around them.