Nightlife

The Lucent Dossier Experience welcomes you inside an alien environment

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Long ago and far away: Who knew aliens were so athletic?
Deanna Rilling

Imagine a world filled with ancient aliens gyrating to electronic beats.

No, it’s not the latest theme party at Hyde, but the imaginative vision of the Lucent Dossier Experience. The colorful troupe, founded in 2004 and spun off from LA-based Do LaB art/promotions company, has routinely performed at Coachella, Burning Man and Lightning in a Bottle, its interactive productions a programming alternative for festivals and now concert venues.

For its first headlining tour, the performance-art-meets-circus operation is featuring music from upcoming album Light of the World and aiming for a more transportive experience, one designed to evolve as the tour progresses. But the end goal will stay the same across all dates: taking audiences down the Lucent Dossier rabbit hole.

“Right from the get-go, the costuming, the look and the style was super important because I wanted to create [an environment] that was otherworldly, [enabling people to] find their way out of their normal lives and come with us into a fantasy world,” says executive producer Dream Rockwell, who drew inspiration from the tribal, native accessories of Wamuhu Waweru, a jewelry collector originally from Africa, and writings involving ancient history and aliens.

“The idea for the show is that we’re in Africa 30,000 years ago and we have some technologies that are not available on Earth,” Rockwell says.

So what would those ancient aliens sound like? The Dossier musicians create the soundtrack, which is performed during the tour by a DJ, drummer/percussionist and guitarist. “It’s very cinematic,” Rockwell says. “I come from an EDM world and love the music and dancing to it—the heavy bass and the sweet melodies. I think that our first album [Gateway] had super-heavy bass. Our new album is sweeter; it has a lot more four-on-the-floor [and is] more worldly and exotic.”

The performance ensemble includes Frankie Metaphase—a Las Vegas DJ who works with Lucent Dossier as a music producer—and Rockwell, though she admits it’s to a lesser extent these days. “The truth is, the performers have gone to such a high level that I sometimes feel like I can’t keep up.”

Lucent Dossier Experience July 25, doors at 9 p.m., $20. House of Blues, 702-632-7600

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