How Growing Up with The Internet Informed LAVI & Foenix’s Debut EP ‘No Phones at the Dinner Table’

When Hyderabad-bred singer-songwriter LAVI reached out to Mumbai-bred artist Foenix via Instagram in 2021 to congratulate him on his latest release, the pair immediately hit it off and exchanged music with each other. LAVI says, “We quickly realized how well our styles and visions matched.” Foenix adds, “Within a few weeks of knowing each other, we made several demos.” The duo would go on to release their moody debut single entitled “Spiral” in January this year. Now, LAVI & Foenix — who are both based in Bengaluru — are out with their enthralling five-track debut EP No Phones at the Dinner Table via Export Quality Records.  

In this interview with Rolling Stone India, they talk in-depth about the EP, taking the project live, future plans and more.  

What was it that planted the seed for the pair of you to work on an EP? 

LAVI: We both moved to Bengaluru in April 2022, determined to release a longer project in the coming months and to focus solely on music. After ‘Dye My Hair’ was written in December 2021, we realized that it had the potential to be a part of a thematic story instead of a one-off single. Once we moved, we ideated other tracks to sonically and lyrically fit its theme and eventually came up with No Phones at the Dinner Table: a stark and brutal commentary dissecting today’s internet culture. We scrapped out several tracks before finally ending up with the five that tied the whole story together. 

What does each song talk about on the record? 
 
Foenix: Ever since I watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood back in 2019, I was always inspired to release a project that sonically had sounds of Seventies Hollywood – fun and retro. I wanted the project to have a story, rather than it being a collection of singles. Fast forward to when we started working on the EP with the same idea in mind. LAVI’s lyrics have always held a sense of cynicism towards the state of the world, and when she found a prompt in her phone notes that said, ‘I hate the internet,’ we found the perfect match for the story and sound! Every song explores different aspects of having grown up with the internet. 

LAVI: Starting from ‘House of Wires’ talking about growing up with the internet through the lens of a love story, the EP, with ‘1-800-Over-Drive,’ moves on to explore flex-culture and luxury lifestyles that are devoid of any real connections in life. ‘Alone’ then makes its way, offering a change of energy and acts as a breather while putting the spotlight on the aspect of online dating and loneliness in a hyper-connected world. The EP then introduces ‘Dye My Hair’ with its fast-paced drums and Eighties-inspired guitar riffs, and it aims to act as an anthem to a generation that has learnt to alter their physical appearance in order to cope with their insecurities. The track explores social media’s effects in particular. The ordeal finally culminates at an odd crossroad and a helpless note, where the only viable option seems to be to ‘Surrender’ to the system, as there isn’t much of a difference that can be made anyway. 

How were the sessions in which you put the EP together? 
 
Foenix: I derived heavy inspiration from vintage sounds of pop and funk. I was determined to have a cohesiveness to the whole project, to the point where I’d put in research to delve into the mixing process of several eras of music from the Sixties all the way to the Nineties, and emulating it as we wrote and recorded the tracks. 

What plans do you have for promoting the EP?  

LAVI: After deciding to release the EP through Export Quality Records, we worked with them on a music video for ‘Dye My Hair’ that was shot in Mumbai and will be released alongside the EP. Our live performances aim to deliver the experience of No Phones at the Dinner Table in a unique story-telling way. Our promotion plan primarily includes pushing through social media, as we believe that the concept is relatable to a wider audience.  

Where does LAVI & Foenix go from here? 

Foenix: Since making the EP, we have already explored newer sounds and are extremely excited about working on them alongside promoting No Phones at the Dinner Table and performing at gigs. We are looking forward to what our future holds post the release of this EP, and are already working on projects that aim to further push boundaries for both ourselves and our listeners. 

Stream ‘No Phones at the Dinner Table’ on Spotify below and on other platforms.