Featured Artist – Lee SafarSeptember 10, 2011

This week we intervew Aussie-turned Los Angeles-based songstress Lee Safar. After recently changing direction and collaborating with dance/electronica producer Luke Emrose (aka Evolutionary Theory) for their latest single ‘I’m Here’, Lee chats to us about music, her association with the Twilight series, her new direction, and how to connect the musical dots.

1. Tell us about your new track! What would you consider your biggest influence in its creation?

The new single is an epic 8 minute Trance remix of my very first single
‘I’m Here’. This single was super popular with Twilight Fans as a result
of it’s association with the New Moon soundtrack.

Sydney based EDM (Electronic Dance Music) producer, Luke Emrose (AKA evolutionary theory) and I created the remix as a prelude to my upcoming
debut album. Because this album will also be my debut into EDM, we decided
to take the opportunity to introduce existing fans to our new sound using
a track they were already familiar with.

‘I’m Here’ has already been released in two versions; a live-band rock version, and a studio piano-acoustic version. Both had prior well received public releases. The major inspiration for the remix was a combination between the piano-acoustic version and the inspiration of a few highly respected EDM artists; Arty, Above and Beyond, and Armin Van Buuren.

2. How do you feel the album fits into your musical career as a whole? What doors do you think that it will open (or close) for you?

“You can only connect the dots looking back. Moving forward you just have
to trust” ~ Steve Jobs

3. Your music takes on a highly personal note, especially through your “Who I’ve Become” EP. Can you see yourself continuing that same trend with your debut album in the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) genre?

Absolutely, it’s what I’m most know for stylistically, that and the haunting ethereal tone of my vocal delivery.

My music is the way that I deal with the ebb and flow of my life. It’s the way I address my fears, celebrate the breakthroughs, and deal with the mess in my head when it gets too loud to make sense anymore. I don’t know how to write what I call “Uhh ahh baby baby” music. I don’t have anything against it; it’s just that it doesn’t have the emotional depth that I’m looking for when I write music. The kind of audience I choose to attract and ( more importantly ) start a conversion with, are people who are searching to see their truth. I believe that if you write music or create art filled with insincerity, that’s what you’ll attract. If you write about your truth, you’ll attract people who aren’t scared of looking at their own truth. After all, as artists our intention is to affect others with our creations. I just hope my truth affects others towards their truth. The only difference between my EDM expressions and that of previous work is that this time we’ll be taking that truth to the dancefloor with us for the first time.

4. Having worked with iconic producers such as Jeff Blue and most recently Luke Emrose, how would you describe the experience of working with men who come from such contrasting backgrounds?

Both these producers were very very different to work with. Jeff has a major label approach to music and working with him presented many lessons that will serve me well throughout my music career and life in general.

Working with Luke is like working with the male equivalent of myself with an added super-cool geek element. It’s a creative match made in heaven. We’re both massive nerds, love music, are super-committed to quality and work stupid-hard and obsess about details.

To give you an example of how crazy we both are, I was struggling to match the vocal performance between the demo and studio recordings for the record. For some reason I just wasn’t as comfortable in any studio here in Hollywood as I was recording in my apartment, into my MacBook Pro. Our fix to this? Luke decided to build (from scratch) 2 customized DIY microphone preamplifiers based on some highly sought after designs – a Neve influenced “Sound Skulptor MP73” ( for a smooth and warm old-style sound )
and an API influenced (for a hard-biting rock sound). This is to allow Luke to obtain a lot of different variations to the sound of my vocal. He also considered and then recommended a specific microphone and soundcard combination suited to my home recording scenario.

The result is a setup that would rival any professional studio, and I don’t even have to go anywhere to use it…. Did I mention we’re also creating this album whilst Luke and I are living in two different countries? Yep, we’re crazy!

5. With your success through the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack how do you plan to address the possibility of having your fans evolve into the Electronic Music Dance scene with you?

I don’t approach music or my fans that way. I create what I need to create in order to best represent what I have to express about my truth at the time. Yes I’m a business woman and I want my fans to be happy so that they will support the creation of more music by buying the product that we put out there. But I am an artist before I’m a business woman and I can’t ask my fans to evolve into any scene that they’re not interested in. The single has been out a day and already one thing we’re hearing from fans is that they don’t normally listen to EDM but they love the new single. Why? Well because I believe a solid song can be interpreted into many genres
without loosing it’s core value…this remix highlights that. Luke has produced a remix of what was originally a rock track and even further intensifies the emotion of the track while still captivating people who have heard the song many many times before….they’re listening as though they’re hearing it for the first time.

6. You’re quoted saying that it was while you were exploring your inner self that your found the EDM genre. Could you see yourself trying out other forms of music in the not too distant future?

This experience has taught me to be open to everything. When I moved to LA from Sydney to create this record I had no intention of creating an EDM album or that I’d be working with a Sydney based producer. I had been meeting with Grammy award winning producers who were interested in creating my next album which I had intended to be another kind of alternative pop-rock release. At the time I had left everything I knew behind in Australia and felt very disorientated here in LA. I felt very exposed and somewhat depressed. I decided that this album was a way to discover the truth behind those feelings. Identity, letting go, and learning how to have fun became the 3 main themes of the album no matter who was going to produce it.

The day after a meeting with iconic producer John Boylan (Boston, Little River Band, Linda Ronstadt), I was in the studio recording the vocal for a side project Luke and I were playing with ( a song called “These Lies” ). I remember that session being the most euphoric fun I’d ever had in the studio. The day after that session I remember myself saying “Man I hope creating the record will be as much fun as the studio session from last night….” The next thing I did was grab my phone and ask Luke to produce the album. To date, I believe it was the smartest and most authentic decision I’ve made as an artist and as the owner of my own label. I am inspired, excited and moved by what we are creating. I’m not looking beyond this moment, whatever will come will come. My job is to create the dots and hope that when I look back at them, they all matched up!

Buy the new single here: