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Imagine Festival Artist Spotlight: Seven Lions

August 25, 2017 By Tori Matthews

We’ve been anticipating the ultimate weekend to close out this summer season at Atlanta’s Imagine Music Festival, with this year’s lineup boasting huge acts such as Deadmau5, Above and Beyond, Illenium, and Claude VonStroke. The Atlanta Motor Speedway will be transformed into their signature extravagant underwater playground, filled with fantastical performers, a wading pool, and decor that will truly take you into the deep. One of the artists to take the Oceania stage that we are ecstatic to see is Seven Lions. When thinking of words that describe him, many come to mind, but the most prominent would have to be: transformative, euphoric, powerful. The young producer is masterful at throwing down epic sets and he always reaches his goal to transport fans into another state of reality.

The talented artist has made huge strides from rocking out in metal bands to becoming one of the most beloved names in the EDM community. It’s insane to think that in 10 years, he went from his first rave, to now creating that incredible experience for everyone else. The man behind the mane, Jeff Montalvo, was based in California when his career was first taking it’s turn into electronic music, with his friend gifting him Fruity Loops and spending a lot of his time developing his sound. He now resides in the woods of Washington with his wife Emma and pup Khaleesi; a setting we find fitting for the artwork and design that he has created. According to his interview in the 2013 short documentary Melancholy Headbanging with Seven Lions directed by Jason Ano, he first got sucked into electronic music through dark and moody trance. From there he began to toy with the idea of what trance was to him and how he could create interplaying layers with other genres, like dubstep and glitch hop.

Montalvo’s career exploded after winning Above and Beyond’s Remix Contest, with his rendition of their track “You Got to Go”. His submission was so impressive that the duo added his remix to their Anjunabeats label and it was #2 on Beatport’s Dubstep chart for over two months. It was clear that this was where he was meant to be. His discography quickly grew with incredible EP’s like “Days to Come” in 2012, which landed him in top spots across the board like #10 on Billboard’s Dance and Electronic Albums chart and “World’s Apart”, with the track “Don’t Leave” featuring Ellie Goulding really captivating fans. As he continued his progression, Montalvo’s music became more about writing a balanced fusion of integral parts versus slapping fans with raging bass. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the producer wanted to create an entirely different realm for us to enter into. We saw more of this development with his next EP’s, “Throes of Winter” and “Creation”. Some of his most well known and beloved tracks stem from these, such as “Lose Myself” and “Falling Away”. Even with his most recent drop, “Where I Won’t Be Found” he is still working and mixing his sound, never shying away from trying something new.

In between all of this, Montalvo was always back in the studio, ready to drop singles and keep our thirsts at bay. It’s difficult to narrow down which ones really captured our hearts because they all do. Each one has something different that he’s trying to accomplish or some style he’s playing with. Some of the most memorable favorites have to be “Strangers”, which landed itself on the film City of Bones‘ soundtrack, to his dark and bass driven “The Fall”, to his intoxicating yet powerful “Higher Love” with Jason Ross. His incredible remixes are also an excellent showcase of how he can flip the script on any track. Some of our favorites have got to be his rendition of Above and Beyond’s “On My Way to Heaven”, his dark take on Velvetine’s “The Great Divide”, his energetic heavy hitter “Omen in the Rain”, and his most recent collaboration with Illenium for their explosive “Rush Over Me” and “Shatterpoint” mashup. One thing we can always count on, is that within all of these different sounds, styles, and creations, there will always be that signature foundation that makes it, undoubtedly, Seven Lions.

He truly is like no other we have ever seen. And all the while, he continues to grow and experiment even after so much success in a short amount of time. He has even recently come out with a new moniker, DJ Sven, which will mainly nod back to his original electronic inspirations and the discography will focus in on his love for psy-trance. If it’s going to be like anything that we’ve seen him from so far, we know it’ll be both refreshing and unique. He will never stop growing, never stop learning, and never stop innovating. From an off-chance contest entry to becoming a world renowned artist, Montalvo is an incredible force in the scene that has kept everyone’s ears on edge. In preparation of what we predict will be another incredible, moving set, check out the little playlist below to listen to some of our favorites before Imagine weekend hits. Make sure you pick up your tickets, and we’ll meet you at the rails.