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Artist spotlight: Lucas DeLisle

The album artwork for Lucas DeLisle’s “FOMO.” (Photo courtesy of Michael Nuzzo and Andréa DeLisle)

Christina Laderoute
Connector Staff

At the age of four, Lucas DeLisle’s parents signed him up for piano lessons. Little did they know it would play an important role in shaping his future. Born in Lowell but having moved to Leominster at the age of one, the now 21-year-old DeLisle has come full circle and is back in Lowell for college as a Sound Recording Technology student.

If you had asked him when he was a child, being in the music industry was not part of his future. In fact, it was not until his sophomore year of being an SRT major that he seriously started considering it. “There’s always something new in terms of music. I don’t want to stay too still for a long time”.

DeLisle recently put out his newest exclusive preview, “FOMO”, under the name l.ucas (pronounced Lucas). FOMO stands for ‘fear of missing out.’ He equates the title inspiration to his family. “It’s a term that we use to describe my family and how everyone gets guilt tripped if we miss a family party or event.”

He began working on the EP right after he released his first one, “Go Out,” in the spring of 2018. “FOMO” was not finished until the week before its release. In comparison to “Go Out,” “FOMO” took significantly longer to create because he wanted to shape it into more of a collective project, therefore spending more time and putting more thought into the product.

Regarding the inspiration behind “FOMO,” DeLisle says that it is more and more common now to see people with their faces buried deep into their technology, “Whether it be an attempt to socialize or to get away.” He notes that when he disappears into his computer, he finds himself making music. As reflected in the EP artwork, he sits alone in a field immersed in his laptop. Although he finds it satisfying to create something from nothing, he can not help but feel that he has missed out on an important opportunity when he takes a step back from the screen.

Although this was an individual project, DeLisle mentions that he had some help from friends in the form of criticism. “I always try to collaborate in ways below the radar. I ask my friends for opinions and get people to sit in my room and [listen to] my songs. I want to hear what they hate about it, so I can fix it. If someone comes and says something is really good and they leave, it doesn’t help me. I always want critiques and feedback.”

When it comes to collaborating, he says that his next album will consist only of collaborations. He wants to gather different people to work with, whether they be instrumentalists, vocalists or producers. Realizing that not everyone has the skill or means to make music in their room, DeLisle wants to give other artists the opportunity to see their visions and ideas come to life under his hand.

An exciting project to look out for is the collaboration of l.ucas and Phil Cambra. The two UMass Lowell students are teaming up to remix Cambra’s song, “Fixation.”

“Fixation” was released a couple of months ago and Cambra is now interested in creating a more pop version of it. While asking around for recommendations on who to work with, DeLisle was mentioned and thus began their partnership. Camba notes that while the project is at a standstill, it should be out sometime soon. DeLisle also has a new song coming out soon with rapper Timmy O., called “She Down.” The song is taking a more mainstream approach but will be easily identifiable as his work.

While listening to the six-track EP, it quickly becomes clear that the vocals have been manipulated. The thought behind this, as described by DeLisle, is that we all have personalities that we live with that we hopefully are true to, but on the other hand, we are also hiding inside of our phones. It is not uncommon to present a different side of oneself online, like a second personality, or even a different person if it goes too far. He says that using a different voice in the tracks symbolizes, “Another side of me, or if there is another side of me, that’s what it would sound like.”

In addition to being a producer, DeLisle is also the keyboardist in a local band called Daisybones. In terms of music style, Daisybones is more of an indie rock band, whereas l.ucas is focused more around electronic dance music. DeLisle says that his individual work is more representative of his style because of the music he listened to when he was younger.

“I grew up listening to rap, EDM, kind of a little more experimental type stuff. Rock music was a part of my life, but not a big enough part that that’s where my real influences lie.” Delisle states that his influences really started with rap, dance music, hip hop and r&b, and that he enjoys the different ways you can go with those styles and how you can add to each of the genres. DeLisle likes that he can mix each thing in on his own because, “It’s really hard to be an indie rock band by yourself.”

Like other artists, DeLisle says that his goal is to be able to make money from making music, and he credits UMass Lowell for putting him in the right direction for achieving this. “The program here for [Sound Recording Technology] is extremely good. There are very, very influential and professional people teaching these classes and have a lot to say. I pull away a lot of the techniques they teach us.” Being here, he says, has put him in the middle of a lot of talented people that he can pull inspiration from as well as work with.

As for advice for other aspiring producers, DeLisle says, “For people thinking about sound recording technology, a lot of freshman come in and expect to be making beats and producing music, but that’s not what we do. If that’s what you like to do and are into music, there is so much you can learn and bring into that field. You can study things on the side and don’t have to do it all in school. Learn music and how to record and mix and learn music and put that together with your outside life. That’s a tip I try to hold pretty close to myself. By the time I die, I want to have done everything.”

To keep up to date with Lucas DeLisle and his work, he can be found on Spotify (l.ucas), Instagram (@thatproducerl.ucas) and Facebook (l.ucas).

Christina Laderoute

Music photojournalist. President of UML's student-run record label, Seven Six Records.

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