Coachella 2016: Lost Frequencies Talks “Are You With Me” & His Debut LP

Mike Wass | April 21, 2016 8:27 pm
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While Lost Frequencies (known to his family and friends as Felix De Laet) is still relatively under the radar in America, he was one of the break-out success stories of 2015 internationally. The Belgian DJ topped the charts in the UK, Germany and Australia with debut single “Are You With Me,” a deep-house remake of Easton Corbin’s similarly-titled country hit, and then backed it up with a massively successful original called “Reality.”

Needless to say, the 22-year-old included those tracks in his killer set in the Sahara Tent on Day 2 of Coachella (April 16) and reflected on the experience when I spoke to him a couple of hours later. Lost Frequencies explained his moniker, revealed how he got into dance music and gave some interesting tidbits about his debut album, which is expected to arrive in the fall. Find out more in our Q&A below.

Did Coachella live up to your expectations?
Well, when I play in such big festivals, I try not to have expectations. If you think something’s going to be like this and then it’s not like that, then you’re like, “Oh shit what am I going to do now?” Because you never know. But the people are amazing, it’s such a good vibe. It was amazing.

Did you include anything new in your set?
I played my new single, which is coming out next month. I played a remix of it that I made a bit harder but it has all the vocals and all the melodies, the catchy stuff.

What’s it called?
It’s called “Beautiful Life.”

Who is the vocalist on that one?
It’s an unknown guy. I like to work with them so it’s more about the music and not about the names. That’s really cool. I already tried the song out in some clubs. I try every track by I play it. However, I got sent one track this morning and it was really good. I played it today and it was nice. It got a really good reception.

Which acts are you looking forward to checking out?
Ice Cube, of course. I’m leaving tomorrow but next week I’m going to see Flume. I love Flume and I’m going to see him and I’m going to go crazy.

He does a great job of mixing experimental sounds with more accessible stuff. Do you take a similar approach?
Yeah. In my shows, I often have a lot of girls there and sometimes they are not really into deep house and stuff like that, so I try to mix a lot of catchy songs people know and then I put in a stealth drop, an original drop. I think it’s cool because it’s different from something you’ve heard and that’s when the boys are out there having a good time, because they like the deep house part.

Can you believe “Are You With Me” is still building here?
It’s building really slowly but really heavily. It did well in every chart, I swear it’s really crazy. It just blew me away.

How did you get the idea to remix “Are You With Me”?
I always wanted to do a remix with just a guitar. You know, really pure. I was looking for a track to remix and I didn’t find it and then I stopped looking and, you know, I found it. I heard the original version of Easton Corbin and I was like, “Oh, this is really cool. I like it!” So, I downloaded the track and made a remix of it and put it on SoundCloud. The label found it and signed me. We got another guy to sing it and it went crazy in the charts.

Did Easton ever contact you?
Yeah I got an email and they told me they really liked my version, they were really happy with it. So I’m really happy they liked it because it means a lot to me.

The second single, “Reality” was also a massive hit in Europe. Was it more exciting to have a hit with an original?
I love it because it proves… first of all, “Reality” proved to people that I wasn’t a one hit wonder, which was really important to me because a lot of artists in deep house have one single and they can not follow it up. I’m happy we did it and I’m happy it was an original, because it showed people I can also make an original track. So it was like two times as good.

When is the album coming?
After the summer. In September. I’m really looking forward to it. I really want to show people what I’ve been working on. I think it’s going to be really amazing.

Are the singles reflective of the album?
I didn’t make a whole album that sound like “Reality” and “Are You With Me.” Like okay, guitar is cool, deep house is cool, but we don’t want to listen to something that sounds the same. So I worked with a lot of different guys. All the tracks are in the same mood but in different styles, so I think it’s a real journey.

Is there a bit of harder stuff on there?
There’s maybe one track that is really hard but I’m going to make a remix of every single track, so then I can go harder.

The way you came up with your name is really interesting.
Yes, I was making remixes of old songs, old songs that weren’t available digitally. So they were lost frequencies. I did that today as well.

With which song?
I played Bob Marley and another song that is really famous in Europe, but not here. It has a really cool vibe, so I put it in my set. I also played the remix of “Holy Grail” I made, so it was really cool.

How did you get into dance music?
In Europe, a lot of people get into dance really young. So when I got a computer, I was like okay I want to make music. It made sense that I would make this music. For me there wasn’t really other kind of music. A lot of people doing it right now. It’s just a good time to be behind the computer, making beats.

Did you have a musical background?
Yeah I play piano. I can compose these new melodies. That’s really cool

Has anyone reached out to you to produce their music?
Yeah. But I don’t want to do it. When I have a cool track, I’m just so proud of it. I want to say, “Everybody, this is my track. Listen to it, it’s really cool!” You know and I don’t want to somebody else to be like, “Hey, this is my track!” It’s not his track, you know what I mean? I produced a track for one guy and everybody was like, “Oh this new track is really cool.”

Which track?
It’s called “Miracle” by Julian Perretta. It was number one in France.

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