Speaking with Philadelphia electro-acoustic recording artist, sound therapy practitioner, and experiential designer Luna Maye is something of a holistic phenomenon.
Maye’s immersive live music concert, JOURNĒY, heads to The Deacon on 16th and Christian, on March 17. What can audiences expect? Think ideas like sound therapy for home births, interactive performance art, and creating “sound + light + kanna” installations.
Maye recently sat down with Metro after the composer’s evening of working alongside a home birth midwife team as a “birthing doula of sound.”
Let’s discuss your music as a whole and how it differs from what you’ll present at The Deacon?
As a multi-disciplinary, multi-genre artist, it’s easy to get boxed into being known for one thing — for the last seven years, that’s been Sound Meditation Therapy Practitioner. Yet I grew up singing jazz, acoustic folk and have a melodic house music record beyond my ambient new age music and therapeutic soundscapes.
My recent album, The Sound Lab, was a tip of the hat to my last seven years as a musician in the therapeutic soundscape realm. As this ancient practice becomes mainstream, we wanted to present free, accessible spatial audio soundscapes backed by science, in service to mind-body connection to help people. We all want to relax. Sometimes we don’t know how. Sound Meditation is one of the most ease-filled ways to relax because of how nervous systems respond to sound, vibration and frequency activating our vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system.
JOURNĒY’s concert experience is the world premiere of a body of work, “Heart Opener”… a celestial symphonic ambient music score taking the listener through four soundscapes each lasting 11:11, and tuned to the frequency of the heart. Written alongside co-producer Alfiya Glow, it features stunning violin movements alongside multidimensional etheric vocals and sound meditation instrumentation healing frequencies. I will also be live-looping to pierce through the fourth wall, feeling the audience’s energy and letting that reflect in the vocal instrumentation. My intention is that the listener leaves the experience feeling more inspired to lead with love in their lives, even during a time where fear is so prevalent.
Did the idea of environmental music come up with this “score” penned specifically for The Deacon or was it the other way around?
I’ve always dreamed of designing an immersive concert experience inside The Deacon. I’m passionate about creating safe, inspired and connective experiences for community to dive into the exploration of consciousness, music, art and culture. Over the years I’ve noticed just how different a mainstream concert experience has become. Phones up in the air where you can’t see the artist, excessive drinking and a lack of true presence to be with the artist and take the journey together of that ephemeral moment.
JOURNĒY is a social experiment to merge sound meditation as a healing modality that can exist outside of wellness or yoga studios with the common ground love of shared music. Instead of alcohol, which can sometimes pull at the ability to be present, an optional microdose of KA! Kanna Tincture is available with your ticket. A legal, safe and gentle entry-point into plant medicine where therapeutic benefits enhance the intention of the experience.
How did kanna become part of your life and how does it change the sonic dialogue?
As part of my daily wellness routine, I use KA! Kanna Tincture as a morning creative/heart multivitamin. It’s a good-for-you kanna supplement that activates full-spectrum aliveness. It helps me stay grounded, focused, inspired and regulating my nervous system. No matter where my busy day takes my mind, it helps me stay in my body. It is psychoactive not psychedelic. You “feel” it gently in your body without mind-altering response…
We all deserve to feel our best so we can be our best for the world around us, too, and I want the route to my best self as close to nature as possible. I dosed with KA! throughout writing the album and after hosting intentional concert experiences like this with alcohol present, I was ready to evolve the vision and offer a place of a clear container where what’s offered is in alignment with the intention for the experience.
How can we interact with the music on the day of the event if we choose not to partake, and what will this event look like?
For all of us, this experience will be an intentional one where you’ll feel all therapeutic benefits of the experience with or without dosing with KA!. I want to keep some things to the imagination, but guests can expect a beautiful immersive concert experience with subtle yet inspiring fine art visuals of consciousness that have been artfully designed in service to a relaxing, inspiring and heart-opening concert experience.
To explore the flow of JOURNEY and reserve your space, visit lunamaye.com/journey
