Premiere & interview: Lady Starlight shares steely techno workout ‘Prism’
New York club royalty in the house
Lady Starlight, born Colleen Martin in New York, is a unique character in the music world.
Blending techno with rock and performance art, she’s as equally at home collaborating with Surgeon, touring with Lady Gaga, supporting Judas Priest and Iron Maiden or staging performances set to the music of Van der Graaf Generator.
Having racked up acclaimed releases on legendary labels such as Figure, Stroboscopic Artefacts, Ostgut Ton and Tresor – who are issuing her latest five track EP ‘Capricorn Rising’ on May 10 – she’s earned a reputation for making tracks that hit hard on the dancefloor but also convey a deeper meaning and resonance.
Starlight not only decided to share ‘Prism’ – a ruthlessly tough but ringing and groovy highlight from the EP – with Juno Daily readers, but also to answer a few questions…
Hear the track on YouTube
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HI COLLEEN – THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS. WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW AND HAVE YOU HAD A GOOD DAY SO FAR? BEEN UP TO ANYTHING NICE OR GOT ANYTHING INTERESTING PLANNED FOR LATER?
I am super happy to be talking to you at Juno, it’s an honour. I am, as usual, in the studio working on new tracks and preparing my live set for a show tomorrow. I should be doing other life admin stuff but I’m the worst multitasker you could imagine..haha.
WE’RE PREMIERING THE TRACK ‘PRISM’ FROM THE EP – TELL US ABOUT THAT TRACK IN PARTICULAR
This is probably one of the most unexpected sources of inspiration for a techno track: Iron Maiden. They are in my top five favourite bands of all time. I basically love everything about them, but musically it’s all about the rolling nature of their sound. You hear it most in their early instrumental songs, in particular ‘Transylvania’ from their first album. To me, translating this to techno is obvious, but I doubt 99.99% of people would agree…but I aways take inspiration from seemingly unusual sources.
In purely techno terms, simplicity is one of the hardest things to get right. There is nothing to distract or flaws to camouflage. You either have the groove or not. So this was one of those magical moments where everything comes together.
…AND ABOUT THE EP IN GENERAL
I always thought of myself as an artist who is fearless, however I realised that I was actually hesitant to go all in on the hypnotic sound I am passionate about. The one thing I am assuredly not is a trend chaser, if anything I run in the opposite direction! However, the trend in techno has gone so far in the opposite direction of my trajectory, it was making my frequent experience of performing sandwiched between two DJs playing 155 bpm hard techno extremely difficult. I have always, and continue to, produce and perform at a relatively high bpm, so pivoting toward a slightly harder sound would be an easy way to fit more in with the trend. But I quickly realised this would never work.
An artist must stay true to their vision. Sometimes you must sacrifice short term gain for long term success.
This EP was me doubling down on my true vision. I am very proud of the results.
YOU’VE RELEASED MUSIC ON QUITE A FEW LABELS, BUT THIS IS YOUR FIRST FOR TRESOR… THERE’S SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT THE LABEL, ISN’T THERE?
Releasing on Tresor means so much for me as an artist. It’s not just a record label; it’s a symbol of the techno’s history and ethos. Being a part of it is a recognition of an artist’s vision and dedication to their craft. To be in the pantheon of legendary artists on the label in just amazing.
YOU HAVE A BACKGROUND IN PERFORMANCE ART, HOW DOES THAT INFORM YOUR MUSIC MAKING, DO YOU THINK (IF AT ALL)
I think what my performance art background contributed most to my music is the understanding that performance is almost everything when it comes to people’s experience hearing you live. The performance can actually change the way people hear your music. Very few people will remember if your set was gain staged perfectly or had enough compression, they will remember the feeling of being in the room.
This comes down to what an artist projects while performing.
YOU’VE WORKED IN VARIOUS CAPACITIES WITH SOME LEGENDARY NAMES – LADY GAGA AND JUDAS PRIEST TO NAME BUT TWO: CAN YOU TELL ME SOMETHING YOU’VE LEARNED FROM EACH ONE OF THOSE THREE?
The most important lesson I learned was that the audience is everything. These artist do everything for their fans. It doesn’t matter what is happening in your life, what challenges you went through before the show, you must perform at the highest level for the fans who support you. This is the difference between success and failure, when the time comes, you must deliver.
WHAT MUSIC – OLD, NEW, DANCEFLOOR OR OTHERWISE – IS FLOATING YOUR BOAT AT THE MOMENT?
In keeping with my unexpected musical influences, I have been listening to a lot of powerviolence (the sub genre of hardcore punk), mostly the legendary Man Is The Bastard. Although I do not think this will be tearing up dancefloors anytime soon..haha!
WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU IN THE SHORT/MEDIUM/LONG TERM?
More techno of course! But also working on a project that explores different time signatures, while connecting to my passion for birds. What this will sound like you must wait to hear…