Wonderland catches up with the DJ and producer Sara Landry on her ETERNALISM tour, the release of her debut album, and her undying relationship with spirituality.
Boasting over 1.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify, over 1 million followers on Instagram, and having performed on the biggest stages in the world including Coachella and Tomorrowland Brasil, you wouldn’t think that Sara Landry’s debut album only released late last year, but you’d be wrong. The artist and record producer has entranced millions of listeners across the world, due to her penchant towards energetically-charged singles and EPs. Thanks to her new album Spiritual Driveby, the mesmerizing affect Landry has is only set to spread its wings higher and further.
Spanning over 12 tracks, the final one bearing the same name as the album, Spiritual Driveby is an invigorating body of work which invites its listeners to be completely hypnotized into a higher ground. To celebrate the release of her debut album, Landry is diving headfirst into her biggest project yet: the ETERNALISM tour.
Having kicked off in Amsterdam last month, the DJ will be touring Europe over the next few weeks. Not only is this tour a place to let loose and enjoy music, but Landry wants to create and channel a spiritual energy, one that can only be born from a crowd opening itself up spiritually, physically, and mentally. It’s a spiritual sonic experience that also acts as a testament to the power of the collective, so you already know it’s going to be a good time.
Ahead of her show in London, we caught up with Sara Landry to talk all things ETERNALISM, her relationship with spirituality, and bringing a feminine touch to a male-dominated field.
You’re about to head on a European tour, starting in Amsterdam and ending in Paris. How do you prepare for a month of touring? Is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to?
Having such an intense touring schedule definitely takes some getting used to. When I’m getting ready to go on a real back-to-back stint, I like to take time to cater to the things that keep my energy up and positive – spending time with my friends and collaborating with them on projects, I love doing pilates (I even have a room dedicated to it in my house!). I also like to get in as much studio time as possible to prep for the upcoming shows by finishing my unreleased music or reviewing tracks for my label HEKATE. I’m also always meditating – whether it’s listening to a meditation or really high-frequency techno, it’s something I believe deeply in.
I’m so excited for ETERNALISM. I can’t wait to bring my fans on this spiritual, sonic journey and really elevate hard techno to a new height in a way that’s completely my own. I don’t think there’s one part of this tour that I’m not looking forward to, it’s something I’ve already wanted to create.
ETERNALISM is quite a striking name for a tour. How did you come up with it?
I’ve always wanted to create a touring concept that would have a big impact on the people who experienced it. ETERNALISM is the view that past, present and future exist – and this tour is just that. I’ve carefully curated this experience of euphoria in which audiences will feel a total presence in the moment – a moment that is equally important during the experience as it will be a distant memory. It’s my offering for an everlasting spiritual moment in music – a true out of body experience that I am here to create.
This tour is to celebrate the release of your debut album that came out last year “Spiritual Driveby.” With all the success you’ve already garnered, how does it feel to finally have an album out?
Releasing my debut album was such an incredible experience. It is a completely collaborative body of work that really made me fall back in love with producing after a long 15-month writer’s block. I wouldn’t be able to live the life I do without my listeners – their support before and with the album means the world to me, so I’m just happy everyone has enjoyed it! Creating this album has truly been the greatest joy of my life so far.
Why did you pick the name “Spiritual Driveby?” Was it something that came quite easily to you or were you mulling the name over for a while before landing on this one?
The name actually came from a joke I made while writing that track, and I just liked it so much that it ended up becoming the name of the album. Both the title and the contents of my album were motivated and inspired by the understanding that we are all energetically linked. Everything we do is interwoven and collaborative – even down to the naming of the album. It was actually one of the hardest parts of the release, but I chose something that really embodied the process of creating it – this album is my spiritual offering, and each track is a testament to the power of collective energy, all coming together to create this incredible journey.
Which interest came first? Music or spirituality? How do you get into both?
Music has been ingrained in my life since the very beginning, but I’ve also always been very attuned to higher spiritual energies and frequencies – it’s almost like a chicken or egg scenario, I really can’t remember one without the other. I’ve always had synesthesia – basically like a photographic sonic memory – so music and spirituality have always been quite entwined with each other for me.
I first remember the feeling of spiritual energies through music growing up in Texas, being dragged to a megachurch, once everyone was in the room I could really feel the energies of everyone around me. That feeling really inspired me, the vibration of the room was something so spiritual, and it’s what I’ve always aimed to create.
Despite the fact that I come from the home of a classically trained pianist, I could never sit down and master it myself, but music was always around me growing up. When I got into NYU is when I really started to be interested in and inspired by electronic music – it was UK dubstep that first caught my attention. I was promoting at a lot of the New York clubs when electronic music really broke into the mainstream for the first time and I got to experience the shift from the really heavy pop and hip-hop days to the electronic focus, and that’s where I was really heavily introduced to the genre.
How would you describe your relationship between spirituality and your music?
I really want my music to be a spiritual experience for my listeners. I truly believe I am here to create these experiences through my music – it’s never been about me, it’s always been about what I can provide to others through my music. Almost all of my music, especially my album, have subliminal frequency messaging. I really believe in healing through high-frequencies and always aim to create music and experiences that are deeply healing.
How do you incorporate spirituality into your live shows? Is it something you intentionally try to bring together?
My live performances absolutely intentionally marry spirituality and music. A lot of hard techno can tend to lean quite heavy and dark – and I strive to be the antidote for this type of energy-draining environment. My sets are all carefully structured for this. Typically, I start out with a much harder sound than I end with – I like to really bring it in the beginning, almost like a palette cleanser before really transcending the vibes to the highest level.
Do you find that your listeners and your community resonate with you on a spiritual level?
I do feel that my listeners connect and resonate with the music on a higher level, which is really my goal: to make people feel things – especially a sense of connection – that can’t really be described. Every show is so spiritual for me – it’s giving and taking energy and watching crowds transform over the course of my sets is unlike any other feeling I’ve ever had. It is always my intention to be consistent and authentically me, and I love being able to share this message because I feel that it’s received with that same energy.
You bring quite a feminine energy to the world of electronic music, which is, in large, a male-dominated field. How has your experience bringing this new kind of energy into the genre?
In some ways it’s been really amazing and exciting to feel like I’m on the forefront of something, and in other ways it can be very isolating, because I’m definitely NOT a member of the Boys Club and I never will be. There’s always a lot of misogyny and grumbling from men who get annoyed about women taking up space in male-dominated scenes, and nothing you do will really reason people out of being misogynistic haters, so I’ve had to just let that shit go and let my work speak for itself. But I am very grateful for the support and sisterhood of the female techno acts who came before me and the other women that are growing in the scene right now.
Not only are you a DJ, but you’re also the owner of your own record label, Hekate Records. Was this something you also dreamt of achieving?
Having my own label is something I’ve wanted from the beginning of my career. There was a lot of pressure to sign to a big label when I was emerging, and I didn’t like how the keeper of my career was just some guy. I wanted to be in complete control over my creative process – free of influences, and with Hekate, I have been able to do that.
I also really enjoy being a part of discovering and bringing up younger and emerging acts in the space. Building up artists like Charlie Sparks, Alt8 and Alex Farrell has been one of my proudest achievements with the label. I’ve taken a lot of risks to get to this place but I’m so proud to be a tastemaker in this scene as this harder style of music is really making its way into the mainstream.
What changes do you want to bring to the music industry and/or the electronic genre with your record label?
For me, this is really just creating a space in techno for euphoric and feminine ideas to be expressed, and then also (of course) to create a space that really feels like a close knit group of friends. I also really enjoy signing smaller acts with newer perspectives that need to be developed, as I love seeing artists go from bedroom producing to full out tour off of a few special tracks.