Anna Lunoe is one of Australia’s top DJ exports – sharing stages with Diplo and The Weeknd, playing on the worlds biggest festivals and releasing records is just part of the job description. But when it comes to finding the time to dedicate to production, not even she is immune from that familiar feeling – needing more time to focus on production.
It’s something that should be familiar to most producers – you want to dedicate more time to production, refine your ideas, get those drums sounding hot, finally nail that idea you had last week/month/year… but things keep getting in the way. Whether it’s work, life or just a lack of motivation, its something that almost all of us face.
Coming to terms with this challenge can be a big part of the production process – whether your day job is being a touring DJ or whether it’s a regular 9-5. We caught up with Anna Lunoe on the back of her new release “Saturday Love” on Lucky Me, to see how her recent burst of creativity has come about and how she manages her time to get the most out of her production.
I really have focused being a live act for the better part of 15 years. I didn’t even really start releasing till i was 5 years into DJ’ing so production has always been on the back foot, secondary to my touring commitments.
When faced with these time limitations, Lunoe finds it helpful to prioritise her creative output.
I make a lot of different styles and have experimented with releasing other genres and songwriting styles, but I simply don’t have the time to finish everything I make. I have an understanding of what my audience wants from me, so I prioritise finishing and releasing only the tracks that fit the brand.
That (approach) was frustrating to me at times, but I can only do so much and there were lots of musical ideas I had that simply needed more time to work out how to execute so they were shelved. There are still a lot of them!
There are certainly songs I wish people could hear and know that I can write, but its kinda nice having all these secret weapons up my sleeve too. They come in handy when I least expect it.
For Lunoe, moving back to Australia and starting a family has re-set her time commitments, allowing a new and more free perspective on her production output.
Since having kids and moving back to Australia I have changed my touring commitments and that gives me more time to dig into the music so I think there will probably be more from me coming, and more depth to the releases as opposed to pumping out club tools! Although no doubt there will still be lots of club tools.
And already there’s more coming out. Fans will remember the house classic collaboration “Real Talk” by Anna Lunoe and Touch Sensitive – and here it’s had a 2022 makeover: