Lucian Moriyama
Lucian Moriyama (born in Honolulu, based between Brussels and New York) is an artist and musician. His works explore the dream world of exotica and elsewheres, spanning from songs of longing, steel guitar, and ‘country gone wrong’ to sound installations and sculptures.
What has previously been your approach to guitar?
I've been playing pedal steel guitar - it's a Hawaiian/country slide guitar. It's almost like a string quartet, where you glide between notes. If I play guitar, I'm thinking of it as a surrogate orchestra. Except it fits into the cabaret, into the budget.
How do you use the SubSix?
I wanted to shrink the pedal steel guitar down even further; I don't have a Ford F-150 to carry it around in. So I made a portable digital version, called the Metro Steel. Clarence White from The Byrds had famously installed a B-string bender on his guitar, giving it a special twang for certain riffs. It's kind of the same thing, except with a lot more control over each string.
What influence has the SubSix had on your creative process or workflow?
It's a guitar vivisection. Maybe I didn't need the third note after all - maybe the guitar should sound more arpeggiated - I can dissect the notes in the studio.
What have been the surprising discoveries in the time that you've been using it?
I like putting a slow attack on each string. That's probably the easiest way to make a guitar more atmospheric. Have you seen that German LOG lap steel? You can get even more intricate effects by 'playing' and moving the Submarine pickup. Add some harp-like pitched delays, for example...With the SubSix, I can come up with new combinations of what pedal steel guitarists call copedents. For example, when I step on Pedal A, my lowest string can bend down a fifth, making for some weirdly unique harmonic motion.
Do you plan on using it in any other projects and if so what ideas to you have for its future use?
I'm reaching out into the 11th and 13th chord-dimensions of Japanese city-pop. Out there, you'll need a few things to make it in the futuristic hyphentopia we were all promised: Quartz metronomes, extended chords, prosthetic sixth fingers. The SubSix with a pitch shifter might help me reach some unusual intervals and textures up there. For the moment, though, I'd love to build a more performative instrument. When I set out with a guitar, or any instrument, it's to serve the song. The thing itself inevitably gets entangled. I'd like to see how to make an instrument like the pedal steel playable while standing up, dancing and singing.
Lucian's Metro Steel featuring the SubSix pickup
What is your favourite guitar gear? Hardware, software, pedals, anything...
I use Line 6 Helix for guitar effects, amp sims, and I think it has the best real-time pitch bend. I also just bought an Arturia AstroLab 37 synth - I wish a lot of my digital workflows could be replaced by portable gear like this!
What are you listening to at the moment?
Taro Ishida; his music and YouTube channel is full of interesting reflections on Gagaku, the music of the Japanese court. In the Brooklyn pedal steel world, I liked 'Will You Dare' a new song by Wendy Eisenberg. I'd like to have seen Hiroshi Sato in the studio. There's something almost surrealist in the way he succeeded in taking the most ridiculous synthesiser sounds seriously and bringing them together into a catchy dance track.
What are you currently working on?
I'm working on some new songs and a concert and exhibition at the Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles in Paris on May 22, 2026!
Lucian can be found on instagram @lucian.my head to lucianmy.com/steel for further info on the Metro Steel. Watch Lucian's 'Metro Steel x SubSix' video here
A Deep Dive With... is an ongoing series where we interview Submarine users, explore their creative process, share tips, and hopefully inspire you to discover new ways to make the most of Submarine's creative potential.
Find similar articles
deepdive
