Photo of OG Lullabies by Anna Moneymaker.
On Thursday, August 2nd, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm, the Luce Foundation Center hosts another installment of Luce Unplugged. Thursday shows, presented with D.C. Music Download, are a tribute to a Luce Center artwork selected by the performer. Jessica McFadden, the Luce Foundation Center's Program Assistant, reached out to this installment’s performing artist, Taylor Brooke as OG Lullabies, to gain some insight into her creative process.
EyeLevel: Where do you draw inspiration for your songs?
Brooke: My songs come to me in my dreams and through the mundane scenery of my everyday existence on earth.
EL: How do you incorporate multiple instruments (violin, bass, and synthesizer, etc.) and sonic elements into your music?
B: My instruments are the core of my production and the conduits of my sonic vision. The entire structure of a composition becomes clear to me while playing. Each sound inspires another until there's layers of possibilities to explore and form into another dimension of expression.
EL: To build off that last question, what message do you want your music to convey to audiences and listeners?
B: The music is an experience. Each song is a ruminant of the inner and outer landscapes I've traveled. I only seek to deliver a raw expression of my truth.
"I'd love for the listener to step beyond themselves, into the sound, and find me."
EL: Within the last year you released the EP cruescontrol. Can you talk a bit about what the recording process for that was like?
B: Creating cruescontrol was an immensely beautiful process. Two crucial things were built in that time; clarity on my musical direction and my home studio! cruescontrol was the first project I made where I could properly hear everything I was doing. Up until last year all I had was my laptop and a tiny USB microphone. That was enough, and perfect for me then, but with creative growth came an obvious need to create a workspace that allowed me to compose and record with fluidity. So I basically had one of those art imitates life moments. I created the EP with the clear intention to set the foundation for my limitless world of sound and there I was, simultaneously building a means to make that possible. So there's that reoccurring theme of the fixed and the fluid interacting to manifest things continuously beyond where I once was content. My studio is named The Deep End.
EL: Do you have any upcoming projects that you’re working on that you can share with us? What’s next for OG Lullabies?
B: Yes! I am in the depths creating an LP which expands upon and maybe even clarifies the cruescontrol universe. I’m very in love with the concept so far. And I'll be off to Berlin for Redbull Music Academy in autumn - Extremely excited!
Want to listen to music by OG Lullabies? Check out her work on Bandcamp or Spotify. Luce Unplugged is a free, monthly concert series held in the Luce Foundation Center for American Art. The series is organized in partnership with DC Music Download, and Washington City Paper. Be sure to check out upcoming performances and don't miss OG Lullabies’ performance on Thursday, August 2nd! Snacks and libations available for purchase at on-site bar. No registration required. Object talk at 5:30 pm, OG Lullabies at 6 pm.
