If there's one thing that visual artist and musician Huxley Anne knows, it's how to tap into your spiritual side to embrace your creativity. Between her work as a creative director and production designer to her life as a DJ, Huxley Anne's creative instinct is both far-reaching and innovative.
Evoking an ethereal and dreamlike energy, experiencing Huxley Anne's work is like stepping into a dream world. Her music is slow-moving but deep, filled with glitches and bass-heavy sounds that add a visceral element to her visual work.
We caught up with Huxley Anne ahead of her set at Gem & Jam Festival 2023, which is set to take place from February 3-5 in Tucson. With so much on her plate (she's set to play at several shows and festivals over the next couple of months), getting the chance to see Huxley Anne live will be like catching a glimpse of a dream in real life.
iHR: Tell us about your music
Huxley Anne: It’s a spiritual thing, music. I’ve always felt more connected to music than I have anything else but as it stays so close to me, it also changes as I change. My evolutions within music have been a spectral phenomenon. From indie bands in college, to composing scores for New York Fashion Week, to producing as Huxley Anne, to DJing techno on festival stages—it’s amorphous. I intend to keep it that way for all my life.
iHR: How do you integrate your music with your other creative work?
HA: It’s like I try to keep music separate, cupped in my hands like cool fresh water. The rest of my work is the lake I’m reaching into, and inevitably, music seeps back into everything I do. Try as I might to keep music separate from my other creative work, it always imbues the process. Some days, I pick up an intricate glass and try harder to separate it, other days I just dive in. I’m still figuring it out.
iHR: Can you tell us a bit more about your production and design work? You have quite the portfolio!
HA: Thank you. I’m also a film director based in Los Angeles, CA. In many ways, I think film was my first love. It is through the process of watching movies and listening to their scores that I discovered some of the most iconic and inspiring music of my life, year after year. It’s the life of an artist to explore the mediums that appeal to them. I feel very grateful to have grown into my role as a director, to be able to unite all the incredible artists I have met throughout my life behind a common vision.
iHR: What are some upcoming shows you're most excited for?
HA: This New Year's run coming up is about to be full of light. [I'll be] flying from a stadium in Vancouver with Above & Beyond to a science museum in Florida with Lab Group+ and I may just be ending the voyage with a top secret show…stay tuned.
X Factor Platform Boots - Black, hot, and high. I would rock these everywhere.
iHR: What are some of your favorite rave and festival styles?
HA: I’m like a black techno leather daddy playing with BDSM collars if I were to go that wild. In my everyday life, I try to dress like Jackie Kennedy or a prep school student. I do own a few Online Ceramics sweat suits. They all pay homage to legendary jazz musicians.
iHR: What does festival fashion mean to you?
HA: I see fashion, in general, as a form of fluid identity. It is social capital, disappearing and reappearing on command. A trench coat can disguise you at the same time it can transform you in a different context. I think festivals give us an opportunity to explore the most extreme angles of that fluidity.
Euphoric Feelings Maxi Skirt - I love tutus!
iHR: What does rave and dance music culture mean to you?
HA: Rave culture is for the rebels. To me, it’s always meant an ethos of exploration. Diving away from the radio, the bar, the club - into a wild breathless dance floor underground hearing music you’ve never believed to be possible.
Finding Balance Yin Yang Mesh Set - I would go out to the gay club in this.
iHR: If you made one piece of kandi today, what would it say?
HA: I remember one time I let my dad watch from the crowd at a show in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel. When my set was over, he came into the green room covered in kandi. That was my peak experience - I haven’t touched it since.
Adults Only Cropped Fur Jacket - PERFECT for NYE! I’d wear the baby blue one.
