When Desna's stepfather was experiencing intense pain because he was battling cancer, she wanted to find a way to alleviate it, along with his stress. As a music artist, she turned to sound, something she knows best. She discovered sound healing, which consists of healing frequencies. They are specific patterns in numerology and geometry that are said to have specific effects on the body and mind. For example, 174 hertz (Hz) relieves pain and stress, while 40 Hz increases focus and memory and 528 Hz lowers stress as well as increases serotonin and dopamine. She sent him hour-long healing frequencies that were accompanied by ambient music. When the person you love is in pain, anything is worth a try.
And it worked.
Sound therapy proved to be beneficial for her stepfather as it decreased his stress and helped with his pain. Desna then began questioning why these frequencies were only used in meditation and healing music.
“Could I use the same types of frequencies and sound healing and put it in faster-paced music, which is electronic music, and would it still work? Would it sound good?” she questioned.
She toyed with the idea, which she says wasn’t her own, for she felt God had given it to her. Desna’s Christian faith, which is subtly implemented in some of her music, is very important to her, but she notes she isn’t the typical Christian most people would expect because she is queer and spent her younger days in clubs. Because of the importance of her love for Christ, she truly felt she must follow this idea, which she believed was provided by God, giving her trust in trying to fuse sound frequencies with dance music. She says she began watching YouTube videos to see if other people had tried this, and, to her surprise, she was the first to do it.
“It sounded really bad at first, to be honest,” Desna says. “[I] wasn't really harmonizing the notes correctly. I was like, ‘Well, how do I do this?’ After trial and error for a few months, I was able to make my first track, ‘528 Hz Part 1.’ It sounded great. I was like, ‘Everything's perfect about this track. Now, I need to make more of this if I'm going to start doing this as my brand.’”
Certainly, the sound designer did just that. She began shopping her new genre to imprints, but label bosses told her it was a “really great concept, but it’s so different than what I release on my label.” This sparked Desna’s idea to start her own imprint, Frequency Made Music. However, starting a record label wasn’t something she wanted to do because she knew how difficult the process is, adding that it can sometimes take 10 years for an imprint to become successful. She “wrestled” with the idea of creating one all summer until she decided she would form Frequency Made Music in the fall.
“[I] didn't want to start a record label, but now it's the best thing that ever happened to me because I have full creative control over this whole idea,” Desna says.
Indeed, creating the imprint has proven beneficial for the sonic selector. Since the first release, she says, she has charted in the top 10 songs on Beatport. Having every track from Frequency Made Music top the charts is not only an impressive feat but also an important one, as Beatport is the outlet that holds the most weight for deejays and producers. If an artist places high on the charts, more deejays are likely to see the top-charting artist’s music, download it and play it in their sets. Interestingly, Beatport matters more than Spotify, according to Desna.
Given that many of her records have proven successful as they have topped the charts, what’s next for Desna? It’s her latest release, “Manifest,” which dropped Friday, October 11th, on Beatport via her Frequency Made Music label. The song has since also been released on Spotify.
The track starts with warping synths, creating a trance-inducing dimension that keeps melomaniacs wanting more. A hushed voice enters, saying, “Fastest rising star” and “I’m a blessing everywhere I go.” Suddenly, tinkering synths enter before the distorted synths increase in speed. Then comes the drop. Explosive four-on-the-floor production comes in hot, utilizing rave-ready bass designed to ignite the dance floor. It’s Desna’s world, and there’s nothing left to do but dance without abandon. The package also comes with an acapella version of “Manifest” that’s comprised of the warping synths and the spoken word for the entirety of the song.
The vanguard says the song is inspired by having a wellness routine in the morning, which she adds is a positive way to start your morning because it keeps you “more grounded.” Her morning wellness routine, she says, includes reading a page of positive thoughts. One of them is “I’m the fastest rising techno star,” which is almost identical to the lyrics of “Manifest.” Desna says she removed the word “techno” in the lyrics and added a pause so people could add their own affirmation to the record. She notes that listening to this song as part of a morning wellness routine may fit those who like techno and electronic music.
Another notable release by Desna is her 10th record, an EP dubbed Yahweh. Surely, it’s equally impressive in sound design. The four-track body of work’s title translates to “I Am,” a reference to God.
“Through this process, my faith has gotten stronger,” she says. “Some other things have happened in my life that have just drawn me closer to God. I feel like opening up that sector in my music, as well. [I’m] not calling my music necessarily Christian electronic music, but there's nothing for this demographic of people who have a strong faith in God and want to listen to music and have fun but want to also be careful about what they listen to. Where's that market? So I've started to open myself up to how I name my tracks.”
The extended play begins with “Yawhew 432 Hz.” The song starts with pulsing beats before chiming synths enter. The bass aggressively increases in speed, leading to the buildup. The BPM drops, and erratic synths enter, beginning the crescendo, which features driving bass. The record gradually returns to the sounds presented at the start. “Yawhew 432 Hz” is tuned to the frequency in the song’s name because it’s believed to be more harmonious than 440 Hz.
Next on deck is “Delta Wave,” set to a Hz that promotes deep rest and melatonin production. It kicks off ominously and with pulsating soundscapes before the hard-hitting tunes take center stage. The word “hush” is faintly heard, providing a hypnotic sonic atmosphere to the booming bass. Drums drive the track, leading to a stripped-down version of the buildup. The track closes in the same foreboding style that it began.
Halfway through, audiophiles hear “Heal 174 Hz,” a song that begins with dark beats before the bass enters. Elements are slowly added to the bass, creating an intricate sonic backdrop. The buildup boasts erratic synths before aggressive beats made for a warehouse rave come in. The tune’s Hz is a frequency known to alleviate physical pain.
Closing the EP is “Hush Acapella,” a record that has a dark sonic structure. The word “hush” is repeatedly whispered before becoming louder and more aggressive, later transitioning back to being whispered. It provides a haunting sonic world that keeps listeners transfixed as it is so spellbinding.
“Every time I do a release, I talk about what I'm doing, why I tuned it to that and what the purpose of it is,” Desna says. “I kind of encompassed the [Yawhew] EP for mind, body and soul to balance our mind, body and soul. And each EP [for the sound frequency project] has a theme, whether it's spiritual warfare or whether it’s talking about harmonizing the body—they're all tuned to specific Hz. I always embellish on why I use this Hz [and] what it's for. Any science I can find on it that doesn't seem weird or too left field, I'll post that. That's the project in a nutshell.”
Prior to a music release, Desna puts on social media animated clips that tie scripture into the theme of what she is trying to relay with the record. “Manifest,” for example, talks about taking actions that affirm God's will for one’s life and how to find God's will for one’s life. For an EP like Yahweh, she promotes its theme on social media but doesn’t share its name. Her post will explain its inspiration and why she believes people should add it to their wellness routine. The themes typically hint at her Christianity, but she doesn’t want to push the religious aspect too hard—it just happens to work with the record's theme.
“I try to make things a story and not just like, ‘Here's my track. I hope you like it.’ To me, that's my art form—to tie in what has given me a healthy quality of life and just say, ‘Hey, I went from being a kid in clubs, and I found God along the way,’” Desna says. “I think it's cool to promote it, being that I'm married to a woman and that I'm not what you would think someone who loves Jesus looks like. Trust me, my whole life, I was like, ‘I guess that's not for me.’ But it's not true. Jesus is so cool.”
Desna is the first artist to use sound frequencies in dance music, making her a true pioneer of the genre. She says that while it’s rewarding to pave the way for a new musical style, she also finds it difficult because there isn’t anything to compare her music to. At the beginning of the project, she says, she had to pitch the concept frequently to explain what she was doing and the science behind it—just to try to convince people that her style would turn into a genre. Since she began her imprint two years ago, she says more artists are creating this sonic style, making it more popular, especially in an era where people are more mindful and looking for conscious music.
“Where we’re at with this genre, frequency music is what I'm calling it now, I think it's where yoga was in the ‘90s, where it's still gaining some popularity, but it has a long way to go before it becomes this huge wave and huge trend,” Desna says.
Earlier this year, on July 13th, the sonic storyteller took over one of the largest stages at one of the biggest music festivals in Serbia, Exit Festival. Having such a top-tier stage proves that the genre she is spearheading is gaining popularity. Five years from now, she says, it will be a new style of music.
Smaller studies, including one published in Psychology Today, have proven that sound frequency works and has various uses—not only for healing but also for ADHA, as one example. Desna is waiting for larger studies to verify sound frequencies' benefits further. “So there's a lot of noise around this, not specifically with what I'm doing with techno, but there's a lot of noise for sure around this type of music,” she says.
According to Desna, the purpose of her project is instilled in her desire to create a positive platform where people can listen to techno. Those people may include those who are sober, curious or focused on their mental health, but they’re also really into dance music. The virtuoso believes there should be healthy aspects of listening to dance music that benefit listeners positively other than just loving the genre. Desna’s brand is focused on promoting a healthy lifestyle and being a lifestyle brand that doesn’t keep something like a wellness routine separate from dance music.
“I'm very curious about sound and how it can actually help and benefit us, which is why I tune my music to different frequencies—frequencies that I believe I have found cool literature on to play with,” Desna says. “So I'm taking this from a curious standpoint to saying, ‘Okay, maybe I can do something a little bit more than produce cool music. Maybe I can tune my music to these frequencies that are said to help us in various ways.’ And maybe in 10 years, it'll be more proven, and I'll be one of the first who ever did it.”
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