Sara Landry’s Debut Album Wields Techno as a Spiritual Weapon

Sara Landry, notorious for short-circuiting minds and incinerating dancefloors, has released her debut album, posing life's greatest questions at blistering BPMs.

Spiritual Driveby is searing techno that asks big questions, not with words, but with hyperkinetic rhythms that jolt us into dancing and connecting in ways words fail to capture. Landry says the album was inspired by the idea that our bonds derive from somatic happenstances that we can't quite perceive, but should embrace.

"This sonic offering was motivated and inspired by the notion that none of us are alone because we are all energetically linked," she explains. "Everything we do is interwoven and collaborative, whether we realize it or not. Every musical experience we’ve ever had, every show we’ve been to, every euphoric moment that echoes across time has been a collaborative experience and a stacking of energies."

The release is a big moment for the self-anointed "High Priestess of Hard Techno," effectively crystallizing one of the most explosive electronic music breakouts in recent memory. Landry has built a large and devoted following, fearlessly pushing the tempo to the bleeding edge on the stages of the world's biggest festivals.

Landry channels that energy through Spiritual Driveby, which doesn't just push the envelope—it feeds it through a paper shredder and snorts the remains. Just like her unbridled DJ sets, she drags us into a vortex of brutal euphoria with her uncompromising approach to techno production.

Sara Landry performing at Tomorrowland in Belgium, where she became the first hard techno artist to perform on the iconic festival's main stage.

Tomorrowland

The EDM.com Class of 2024 superstar says she toiled through a 15-month period of writer's block while recording the album. Once she found her groove, however, Landry "took the sound design to the place [she] really always wanted it to be," she gushed.

Out now on Landry's own HEKATE label, Spiritual Driveby kicks off by virtue of a prelude featuring a haunting soliloquy from her personal hypnotist. "Nothing can take this moment from us," he says. "So let this music move through you freely. Let it change you."

From there, Landry plunges her fans into a wormhole of vocal-driven techno designed for reckless abandon. Awash in distortion you can feel in your bones, "Because They Want Our Seat" is a surefire highlight, a masterclass in tension and release produced alongside French techno breakout Nico Moreno.

Another standout is the hedonistic "Play With Me," a collaboration with Shlømo that captures the electric thrill of a night that never ends. Here, Landry's vocals slice through ruthless four-on-the-floor beats and transport us to a dark warehouse where pleasure and danger dance in perfect, reckless harmony: "I'm the one, I know you see / Life is short, do what you please."

Listen to Spiritual Driveby below and find the new album on streaming platforms here.