About Luis (ALLOVR)
Luis McDougal (b.1997) is a Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer. One of the hallmarks of his music lies in his exploration of extremes in art and the state of affairs in society. Having graduated in Composition from Berklee College of Music (B.M. 2019) and Manhattan School of Music (M.M. 2023), Luis has collaborated with a diverse multitude of world-renowned musicians such as Samuel Torres, Aisha Syed, Rafael Solano and Erin Rogers. ALLOVR is a project in which Luis collaborates with fellow musicians and artists to unleash radical and obsessive creative potential from each member. Luis is also co-founder and president of Institute for Music Evolution, a non-profit 501c3 organization dedicated to promoting a culture of critical artistic thinking through music education as well as public concerts and community volunteering.
Life is in a constant state of evolution, and the responsibility of an artist is to communicate, engage with and challenge our realities which are perceived through the human experience.
Excerpt from manifesto:
My responsibility as an artist is to challenge people to question their society and to consider the possibility of changing the world as opposed to accepting it as "just the way things are". I want my music to engage myself and others into realizing that there is more to music and life than what we are currently experiencing. In music, this would be done through the exploration of extremes in every sense so that we open new avenues of sound in contexts not previously explored. This idea highlights what I think are the two most important values in art and society: freedom and connection to reality. Society, with all its intricacies in politics and culture, is in a state of perpetual motion that I believe should be communicated in art. In this world of extremes (such preventable brutalities as poverty, slavery, world hunger, war, etc.), I think it makes sense to take this idea to music. I'd like to offer my perspective and invite others to reflect on/challenge the possibility of real democracy, real freedom from exploitation and coercion, and critique of nationalism.
Photos by Adam Sissler