On Tour with Empire of the Sun

ABBY DILLINGHAM - I’m a really big fan of all of your music so I was so excited when I heard that we were going to get a chance to chat. I have some quick questions for you to start. Do you have a favorite body of water in the world?

Oxis - Pacific Ocean because it has the Mariana Trench. It's the lowest point of the ocean at 36,000 feet and it would be so nice to sit at the bottom of it. 

Very Percy Jackson. Are there really a million fish in the sea?

They're 30,000.

Actually?

Yeah and all of them have fun Latin or Greek names, so there's so many songs to be made.

Soo many songs to be made.Is there anything that's been sparking your creativity lately?

As soon as I step out into the world and socialize, I have a billion thoughts running through my head. I overthink so I always want to create and I'm always inspired because of that.

Would you live in the ocean if you could?

Yes. Like Spongebob but a little bit more mid-century modern. I would take a little pineapple under the sea. Sounds lovely.

Where do you think the ideal place to listen to your music is?

I would say in your closet with the door closed. Lights off. Headphones. Shitty headphones. Anything with a string.

What's the closest you've ever come to a siren?

Oh, great question. One day when I was backpacking I went 10 miles with this person to a creek and at night I swore I saw a ghost and they could have been a siren. It was terrifying.

Did it say anything to you?

No, but they were wearing all white and it didn't seem normal.

Scary…did the person you were with also see the siren?

No. You only have my word.

[Laughs]So when did Oxis as a musical entity come to you? Would you say that you and Oxis are the same or is it more an extension of you?

Oxis is the most vulnerable part of myself. I had always been called Tuna growing up and Oxis spelled in a different way [Auxis] is the Latin name for a type of Tuna. It felt like something that I had to bring out of myself at some point.

Did you grow up making music?

My dad says I was singing before I could talk. I've always been incredibly drawn to music, and it has metamorphosed so much. I never would have thought I'd be making electronic music.

Did you play any instruments growing up?

Yeah, my first instrument was piano, but I was also in musical theater, jazz band, and I did classical vocal training.

Oh wow. Me too. Do you feel like your classical training has helped you at all when it comes now to making music? Does it come into play at all?

It finally does now. I hated it for so long (the fact that I was trained in such specific ways) because I was always jealous of people that seemed to just naturally find their way around their musical sound without having been trained. Now I realize that I can take these random tools from classical vocal training and put everything into my albums now which is fun.

That gives you an edge for sure. So you've always been making music but when did that electronic Oxis sound start coming into your brain?

In 2023, I felt absolutely void of happiness and drive and I had just been dropped from a major label. I had a few different experiences that made me sad and I just wanted to make something that made me feel good. I didn't listen to too much electronic music but I made what felt like the weirdest thing I could to express the crazy things that I felt inside. That's when Oxis started coming out and I didn't know what to do with it, but my friends started to like it and I had only played it for a couple of people. I wanted it to be secret and special to me for a very long time.

Do you remember the first person you played it for?

He was an ex and he didn't like any of my music until I played him the first song that I made, which was Fish. I mean, it was kind of exciting even though, you know, your partner should support everything that you make [laughs]. It was a bit of a turning point (not to give him too much credit).

The critical ex liked it. Fair enough. You just released a new single, Goldfish. What was the process of making that?

Usually, I don't spend more than a day on each song and I kind of black out when I make it. It's just a regurgitation of something in my head. The process is usually just me sitting on my floor with my laptop and headphones on Ableton.

That’s super quick! I saw some Skins references in the Goldfish music video. Are you a fan of the show?

I’m a massive fan of Skins. I think it was one of those shows that I watched when I was coming into consciousness as a sixteen year old and it hit me so hard. Even now, I'm rewatching it and I can barely stand it because it's so painful and so real. There's so much going on all the time in life today so if you can watch something that makes you feel both nostalgic and opens you up to being emotional and vulnerable, you should. That's what Skins is to me and that's what I think my music is as well.

If you had to be a character from Skins, who would you be?

Well, not to gas myself too much up, but Effie.

Duh! Best character.

She’s great. She has a perfect amount of trauma but also a child-like spontaneity.

What do you relate to in Effie?

She has a lot of anger, but she also finds pockets of peace in nature and in solitude. There’s a lot of nostalgia in your music.

Are you quite a nostalgic person in general?

Yeah, I would say so. I'm extremely sensitive, for sure.

How does that usually come out?

I hold it deep inside and I let it bubble up until I can make music. Aside from that, I would say I like perfection and being emotional is the antithesis of being a perfectionist. That's why I have so much music to make and put out.

From an outside perspective, it feels like visuals play a huge role in your artistry. Can you tell me about how you create all of the visuals and where the inspiration comes from? They are so unique.

Thank you [smiles]. About a year ago, I found this guy SlumberSpeak online. He posted a video of this anthropomorphic light blob thing and I thought it was the most incredible thing I'd ever seen. I messaged him asking how to make it and he told me to watch a tutorial on TouchDesigner and kept sending me more and more tutorials.

During the summer, I stayed inside for months and months and learned how to do creative coding on TouchDesigner. I'm not a very math-driven person so it absolutely killed my brain but I became obsessed. Now I do line and blob tracking mostly which is motion-reactive or audio-reactive coding. I just LOVE it. It's a perfect representation of this sporadic analytical data that maybe is the perfection-seeking part of things mixed with the messiness of an old camera and the way that the lines interact.

How did you get into your sense of fashion? Do you style yourself?

I've always enjoyed coming up with little outfits and I am lucky enough to have a best friend who is my stylist as well. Her name is Lo Gray and she's always been my go-to person for how to make something a little fun or a little edgy and we've always enjoyed shopping and putting together cute outfits.

Yesss, playing dress-up. So fun.

I love playing dress-up.

Me too, honestly. Do you feel like growing up in LA has influenced your sound at all?

Growing up in LA has influenced all the strange emotions that have led to what I'm doing now. I have gotten to see so many incredible bands live. I don't know, everything that I make comes from deep inside myself and feels like the antithesis of everything that I grew up with. It's like my little rebellion to everything that I knew.

What was growing up in LA like for you?

Can’t say I loved it. But maybe I would end up saying that no matter where I grew up. It could just come down to me and my personality and the way that I view the world and feel like I'm too sensitive. Childhood, high school, and whatnot is painful for a lot of people. It was tough at times.

Those years can be so hard and what you’re saying makes total sense. I think LA is definitely a specific animal. When do you feel like you started to come out of those complicated feelings about that time of your life? Or are we still there?

Oh, I think I'm most definitely still there.

Does making music help you find your place in things more?

It helps me because I have one place to put all of my insane feelings. I don't think I'll ever escape the feeling of insanity which is why I want to put out as many albums as possible to find some semblance of peace- but I probably will not find it.

So you're saying that when you're making music in the studio feeling blacked out… the peace comes. Those are the moments of peace?

Yeah, which is why I like to make music by myself. I've never done therapy and I've never felt capable of showing my true self to most people. The only time I feel like my true form is at my computer.

Are there any musicians that inspired your sound at all when you were creating it?

Well, when I started making it I didn't know where the sound was coming from and I didn't have the perfect references. But then people started bringing things to me and I was able to create an even more tightly wound sonic world. I like artists like Stromae, Sam Gellaitry, Saya Gray, Mid-Air Thief.

Mid-Air Thief is anonymous and never shows his face, so at first I wanted to be completely anonymous because I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.

What made you not want to be anonymous anymore?

Everyone around me was telling me to take my mask off. I crocheted this mask and I thought that I couldn't show my face. I wanted to keep everything a safe and cozy secret but when every single person in your life tells you the same thing, there ought to be some weight in it. The first video that I posted which didn't have a mask went viral. I felt very exposed, but I'm glad I listened to them.

Do you like your little internet community?

Yes! I love it! It's so comforting to have so many sweet things said and to have so much support. I get overwhelmed in a good way when I look at it.

How do you feel like this album is different from the other ones so far?

It’s more high energy and tightly wound production-wise. There's a bit more singing and I'm hiding my vocals less.

That's exciting. Is there one song on the album that you're particularly excited about?

Pike is a song that came out so quickly and so strangely that I can't wait for people to hear.

Did you make the album art for the new album?

No, I like to find pictures of tiny fish on Google. It's a very, very tiny fish. I'm trying to find the tiniest fish possible for each album cover because part of it is just being a tiny fish in the big sea. That's what a lot of us feel like.

Well I can’t wait to get a sneak peak. I loved getting to learn a little bit more about your music and your story.

Thank you so much. It was so lovely talking to you.

Oxis 7 is available to listen on all streaming platforms starting June 6, pre-save the album here.