Lui
BIO
Lui Salazar (or just "Lui") is a recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist based near Chicago. He has been featured on stations such as Sunny G Radio, Lumpen Radio, The Warp Factor, and ACRE TV. He has also received support from Jammerzine, ComeHereFloyd, Surviving the Golden Age, Tonic Grain, Rock Era Magazine, Reignland Magazine, Independent Music Reviews, Last Day Deaf, and more.
His music typically combines elements from 90s alternative rock and punk, 60s pop and psychedelic rock, 70s glam rock, and 2000s indie pop and neo-psychedelia. Listeners often recognize an eclectic combination of psych rock and prog rock in Lui's music.
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety at a young age, Lui tends to overthink every aspect of his life. He imagines fantastical situations, alternate realities loosely based on his own experiences.
Lui’s parents consider music an important educational tool. When Lui was 4, his parents signed him up for violin lessons. However, he became passionate about 90s and 2000s rock bands after borrowing his eldest sister’s MP3 player. A few weeks later, he picked up his first acoustic guitar. He started guitar lessons and began learning Beatles songs by ear. Lui's love for The Beatles and all things psychedelic rock and power-pop never diminished, but instead contributed to his style. He does everything, from song conception and production to mixing and mastering, at his home studio in Grayslake, Illinois.
FEATURED
CURRENT WORK
PAST WORK
LOVELY
May 14, 2021
Cover artist: Ben Hull
Lui's influences include several Elephant 6 bands (Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, The Apples in Stereo, and Major Organ and the Adding Machine, to name a few), as well as King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Matt Mahaffey (of sElf), Queen, Jellyfish, The Beatles, Bowie, Ty Segall, Brian Wilson, and many others.
"Lovely" is about being a little too cautious in life due to your past mistakes. But it’s also about learning from those mistakes and growing as a person. The production pushes for a more progressive and freak-folk edge while maintaining the chamber pop sensibilities of the last album: Truth Is Like a Seed.
For Lui, the song's deceivingly simple premise is in fact very personal. The lyrics showcase themes of social anxiety and other insecurities. Lui continually grows from these struggles and believes others can identify with his music, whether it be through emotional lyrics or the intense production style.
Inspired in part by Brian Wilson's virtuosic compositions, "Lovely" features a diverse selection of acoustic and electric instruments: violin, viola, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, mbira, lyre harp, ukulele, double bass and cello samples, timpani, drum kit, death whistle, recorder, piano, tambourine, and synthesizers. Lui hopes to push the boundaries of what he can achieve with his music, and he thinks of each release as a new "experiment."
