UCLA Radio’s Rising Artist Spotlight aims to highlight upcoming artists who have demonstrated unique creativity and talent through their music. Through interviews and features, we delve into their journey, influences, and aspirations, giving listeners a glimpse into the future of music.
Photos courtesy of Xay Lavie
Meet Xay Lavie: a surrealist indie roc artist blending classical training, emotional storytelling, and experimental textures into something wholly his own. Born and raised in Las Vegas and now based in Los Angeles, Xay Lavie (aka Xavier Paul) is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter – and a recent graduate of UCLA, with a BM in Music Performance and a Minor in Film. His music traverses genre and feeling with ease, shaped by a DIY ethos, a love for nature, and the ups and downs of personal growth. His latest single, “Captain Nemo,” just dropped – a dreamy, ocean-themed track that offers an enticing first glimpse into his upcoming debut album, “Lacquer.” I sat down with Xay Lavie to talk about the creative process, influences, and emotional transformation behind the project.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity purposes.
Interviewed by Chloe Ling
Chloe: Welcome, Xay Lavie! Would you like to give us an intro?
Xay Lavie: Hi UCLA Radio! I’m Xay Lavie. I’m a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California, born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, creating surrealist indie rock music.
As a young tyke, I was very interested in music – I took pots and pans out of my grandmother’s kitchen, and I used them to create rhythms. Then, [my parents] put me in lessons because I was destroying their kitchenware, like their wooden spoons and whatnot. So, I took drum lessons for 12 years, did some piano, and also some percussion. My friends and I formed a band in high school. And for three years, I got to explore the whole indie rock scene, the whole do-it-yourself atmosphere, and the culture of the Las Vegas arts district. Then, when I moved to college in California, I decided to focus on my own creative projects.
Chloe: How did you end up at UCLA pursuing percussion?
Xay Lavie: I was urged by my drum instructor to learn percussion for school because joining the band program was the main track to be a performance major eventually in college. So, I just learned drum set secondary to percussion; percussion was the number one through middle and high school. I liked drum set way more than percussion. I thought percussion was a little more rigid and less creative – you can’t experiment or improv as much, because you’re reading from sheet music. But I continued with that – I applied to a bunch of different colleges and got in for percussion at UCLA. So I was like, “That’s the best choice, might as well go there,” – despite getting into the Berkelee College of Music. Those were my two choices, so I was like, “I’m gonna just do UCLA because it’s California, and the weather’s nicer, and it’s closer to my family.” Looking back, sometimes I do wish I went to Boston, but there’s a trade off for everything. I’m thankful for my time at UCLA – at least I got to stay in the Music major. If I was any other major, I wouldn’t be able to explore as much and meet as many people.
Chloe: I’m definitely thankful you came here, or we wouldn’t get to do this right now. Speaking of – it’s time to talk about your new single, “Captain Nemo.” Congrats on its release! Can you talk a bit about what inspired it?
Xay Lavie: The idea for Captain Nemo came about in my songwriting class during Winter quarter, where my professor gave us a prompt image of a diver in the deep ocean surrounded by a billion fish. I thought that was so mesmerizing, so I wanted the production and songwriting to encapsulate the feeling of being that diver. As I thought about it, I realized it could tie into a romantic undertone, as I was developing feelings for someone in that class. So I figured, why not blend the two ideas? That’s how Captain Nemo came to be. The song personifies something that you think is unattainable – some myth that you’re trying to search for, some person in the deep ocean that you have to “dive deep” for.
Chloe: What made you choose it as the lead single of your upcoming album?
Xay Lavie: It ties into the overall theme of the album very well and showcases a sneak peek of the production on the rest of the album. It’s a lot of sounds found in nature – samples of ocean, forests, and other natural outside sounds.
Chloe: Where did those sounds come from? Did you record them yourself or did you find them online?
Xay Lavie: Half of them were sampled by me; half of them were taken from Splice. The first beat [on Captain Nemo] you hear is made of a canoe paddling against the water on the side of a boat.
Chloe: I love that. Now, tell me about the name of the upcoming album, “Lacquer.”
Xay Lavie: I really liked the idea of using “covering up” in the sense of applying varnish – something that makes things look glossier and better on the surface. At the same time, it plays on the word “lacquer,” which sounds like “lacker,” as in someone who lacks something. It’s like saying, “You’re someone who lacks – you’re a lacker.” You know?
Chloe: Lacquer? I hardly know her.
Xay Lavie: Yeah, exactly. That’ll probably be the B-sides, “Lacquer: I Barely Know Her,” so, thank you for that. I’m actually gonna idea-mine that from you.
Chloe: When did you start working on the album and how long did it take to complete?
Xay Lavie: I started pursuing an album when I was, like, 12 years old, right before middle school. I said, “I want to make an album – I want it to be full length, 10 songs at least. This has to be something I do in my lifetime.” And it’s been my goal for at least 10 years now… that’s actually crazy. I actually can’t remember the first song I made for this album, because I recycle a lot of songs – I’ll just think [a song] is bad and so I’ll just put it on the back burner, and then I’ll work on a new song to replace it. I’ve been doing that for at least six years.
Chloe: What was the most challenging part of making the album?
Xay Lavie: I would say the hardest thing is thinking it’s good enough: removing self-doubt and pushing ahead with an authentic sound, because I’ve always tried to emulate and match other artists who I think I should sound like, or what other people would like me to sound like. I think getting out of that mindset has been a very big challenge in general – just trying to make what’s me and not someone else’s, and not seek validation through that and solely just pursuing it on my own accord.
Chloe: On the flip side, what was the most enjoyable part of the process?
Xay Lavie: I enjoy songwriting the most. When I’m working on a song, I think the first day that I come up with it is the most exciting. It’s the fledgling idea that everything stems from and I don’t know where it’s gonna go.
Chloe: Did you discover anything about your creative process while working on Lacquer?
Xay Lavie: Yeah, my creative process used to be very restrictive. I would just pick up a guitar, put chords together, make a beat, and that’d be the exact same process every time. But now, whenever an idea comes to me, I’ll just write it down, record a voice memo, and then sometimes incorporate that voice memo, sometimes I’ll split it up, sometimes I’ll reverse-audio. I try to be as open-minded as possible and lead with my subconscious. Whatever I’m feeling, I won’t overthink it. I’ll just put everything down in a medium that I could listen back to. Recording it is the most important step, because then you get a tangible thing to work with.
Chloe: What are you the most proud of on the album?
Xay Lavie: I was gonna say “completing it” but I haven’t actually completed it yet *laughs*. I’m pretty proud of the narrative behind it, like the sequencing of the tracks. I always thought I was bad at sequencing what tracks to put in what order, but after mapping out an emotional narrative behind the album, I’m proud of how it comes full circle from the first track to the last. It all meshes together with motifs that appear throughout – I’m proud of that cohesion.
Chloe: Could you give us a little sneak peek into what the album narrative entails?
Xay Lavie: The narrative is based on overcoming insecurity gradually and becoming more authentic, more yourself – you’re not a “lacker.” At the beginning, you might feel like you’re lacking something, but by the end, the hope is that you realize it’s not about lacking, but about feeling at peace with yourself. I want to offer people a different perspective on that mindset of “lacking,” since it’s easy to fall into comparison with others.
Chloe: What’s your favorite track on Lacquer right now?
Xay Lavie: I think my favorite one to listen to in any context – wherever, whenever – is “Maeve,” because it’s the most groovy. I think I cooked with that!
Chloe: Agreed – it’s my favorite song of yours, too. What are some of your favorite lyrics from the album?
Xay Lavie: So, a funny thing about me is I forget all the lyrics I write. But, there’s “Mornings feed your soul like people,” – I like that one because when you wake up, it’s like you cheated death. You were unconscious, and you kind of died a little bit momentarily, like a cute little death, and then you wake up, and then, wow, you didn’t die. You actually survived another night. In the same way, you need people to survive; you need to socialize. It’s one of the main necessities of life.
Chloe: Your visuals for your music and artistic persona often feature paint and bold colors. Can you talk about your connection to that medium and how it shapes your artistic identity?
Xay Lavie: I like to paint in this style called impasto painting. It’s an Italian three-dimensional textured style where the paint jumps out at you, which is cool. When I discovered it, I was like, “Wow, I have to incorporate this in the visuals,” so I try to reflect the harmonies of sound in the texture and depth of the visual art.
Chloe: We talked a bit earlier about how you’re classically trained in percussion. How does that background show up in your music, whether consciously or subconsciously?
Xay Lavie: I think, out of force of habit, I incorporate a lot of percussion like timpani, sometimes marimba. I do love classical repertoire in general, so I’ll try to take harmonic influences mostly from impressionist music; I think Ravel, Debussy, Satie, and Chabrier are my favorites – all the French composers, ironically.
Chloe: What kind of emotional headspace were you in while writing this album?
Xay Lavie: I tend to create better when I’m mentally lower. When I’m struggling with something, or feeling down or hopeless, I’ll write to ease the tension. I feel like the writing sessions that happen when I’m in a funk tend to produce more fruitful results, because there’s more emotion there. If I’m happy while writing, the moment isn’t as potent. Negative emotions tend to inspire me more than positive ones.
Chloe: What kind of listener did you imagine while making Lacquer? Or were you mostly making it for yourself?
Xay Lavie: I don’t typically think of the audience in terms of demographic or who I want to target. I just follow what I feel like, what moves me personally, and if that moves someone else, that’s fantastic, but I don’t really think when I’m creating if it pertains to a particular group of listeners. Whoever likes it, likes it.
Chloe: Was there someone or something that influenced your creative direction while making the album?
Xay Lavie: A few songs were written about a situationship I was in – that had a profound effect on my attitude towards creating, because this particular person showed me a lot of different musical influences that I was very moved by. That really changed my outlook on how to create and what genres to explore. So that was a defining moment, that sharing, because they were very open about their taste.
Chloe: How does performing live factor into your creative vision? Do you think about how songs will translate to the stage while you’re making them?
Xay Lavie: I do think about that actually. I think I take from the folk genre a lot – I really enjoy the idea of an audience stomping and clapping or chanting together. I really prefer that over performances that are static, standing in place, with phones up. If you’ve ever seen those videos of La Blogothèque’s “pocket parties” or “take away shows” – it inspires community. I think that’s so much better than being on stage and playing for people that are just standing there. Connection is the most important thing, so I try to write those little connection spots into the music.
Chloe: What artists, sounds, or even non-musical influences shaped the album?
Xay Lavie: The Beach Boys had a huge effect – I like to take inspiration from their vocal harmonies. The Marías are also a huge influence in terms of production. There’s Vampire Weekend, and then we’ve got Still Woozy – his acoustic guitar production is very good. The ocean inspires me quite a bit, as can be seen and inferred through Captain Nemo. So that’s kind of the aesthetic I’m going for, at least in Captain Nemo: ocean themed, sea-bed genre. Atmospheric, indie rock, indie pop, if you will. Not gonna put any labels on it, though.
Chloe: What do you hope people take away from Lacquer when they hear it from start to finish?
Xay Lavie: I hope people take away the idea that if you feel like you’re lacking something, you’re really not. Often, it’s just your mind convincing you that you’re missing out – on a relationship, an opportunity, a job, whatever it may be. But just because something didn’t happen doesn’t mean you’re any less whole. I think it’s about learning to reframe those moments – not as failures or losses, but as part of your journey. It’s a shift in perspective that allows you to feel more at peace with yourself. You’re not behind or missing something; you’re just living and growing alongside everyone else.
Chloe: One final question for you – we try to ask all our interviewees this. What would your DJ name be?
Xay Lavie: … DJ Xay. That shit’s lame as hell but I’m gonna stick with it. I think I could make it work.
Follow @xay.lavie for updates on “Lacquer” and stream “Captain Nemo” here:
