Burning Man Inspired Luttrell to Pursue His Melodic Sound

Burning Man is known for its powerful pull to a higher self. Thousands of people venture into the desert each year, embarking on a consciousness-expanding journey through the multitudes of art, music, and connection available on the playa. The transformative effect of Burning Man is significant to Luttrell’s story, as it provided the soil to plant the idea for his solo project.

In 2015, Luttrell’s group The M Machine was riding on a wave of critical and commercial success, scoring a coveted booking at Burning Man. However, the group ran into scheduling conflicts, leaving Luttrell on his own for the show. “Initially, The M Machine was booked, but then Swardy couldn’t go because his sister was getting married,” Luttrell told EDM.com in 2019. “So I went by myself, and Swardy was like, just do whatever you want, it’s Burning Man, play whatever you feel like.”

Luttrell took his friend’s words to heart, traversing outside the genre boundaries he would typically stick to for a set with The M Machine. “I played a bunch of melodic house, techno, and a couple of songs I was working on at the time that were definitely on the Luttrell side, and I just got super stoked on it.”

The experience ignited a new fire in Luttrell, solidifying his belief in his creative aspirations. The intimate set was the perfect place to experiment with sound, with an open-minded audience eagerly receptive to what Luttrell played.

“It was a pretty small show, not anything crazy, but I was like okay, I really like playing this music, the crowd seemed happy, everything was good, this feels like it could at least be a new direction I could take parallel to The M Machine. I wasn’t done doing The M Machine, but it was a different world that I wasn’t aware of or exposed to that I’d like to explore.” From this moment on, Luttrell determined to start his solo project, coming into his role as the multi-faceted artist he’s known as today.