Glass Orchid: The Meaning Of "Ethereal"

Witnessing Jacob as PS (Pillowsnake) during 2019. Seeing him perform live at various shows. Hearing snippets of various experimental sounds through his IG stories. Jacob never stopped his creativity from flowing, especially once the announcement of Glass Orchid appeared in 2025. There has been signs of Samantha and Jacob making music together or rather snippets, but here it is. Glass Orchid a duo of not only friendship, creatives, dreamers, but two individuals in love sharing an expressive outlet together. Seeing them perform together is just the sweetest thing and it feels like a gift.

This is Samantha and Jacob La Follete

Also congrats on your recent marriage/wedding <3

In this interview we have

S for Samantha

J for Jacob

R for Ram

Before we begin they share a bit of what they've been up to recently

S: Replaying Ocarina of Time. 

J: Learning how to maintain and repair my car. 

R: I've tried so hard to get into Ocarina of Time, but I can't. I still have my 3ds so maybe...I should try again. Car repair, dude my car battery died yesterday. Sucked so bad, but here we are. Good as new.

Along with a few shoutouts:

S: B11ce, Samantha Hernandez, Stephanie Salinas. 

J: Zoey from Crust Fund (formerly I Killed Techno, Chava Arts, Tigers Blood.

Now, 2 years in the making. Announcing in 2025 the release of your project Glass Orchid. How did the conversation start or even the idea of creating this duo project between y'all?

S: Ever since Ive been put into this world, the only time I ever felt closer to God was when I knew he already had written my life from beginning to end. Within everything, one of the things that I was meant to accomplish was to live off my art and music. Music has always been a way for me to express myself. I am very grateful to be given this gift. Because of it, I started Glass Orchid. My biggest goal in life is to make music, which I'm grateful to be now doing alongside my husband. 

J: I wanted to propel Sam up to follow these dreams of hers. We started to write songs and ideas together, which eventually became the seeds of Glass Orchid. I also wanted to learn how to write with another voice in mind other than my own. This was just out of my comfort zone to be exciting, but close enough to home to not discourage me from continuing. 

R: Yeah being able to see and listen to a song by Glass Orchid at the benefit show at Bandera. There was that distinct difference, but not far off from what Jacob mentions "close enough to home." Seeing Samantha on vocals and catching the lyricism had me wonder how they merge their thought process/creativity. Seeing Glass Orchid blossom is so wonderful.

Glass Orchid is self-defined as "ethereal trip hop", but what made y'all finalize your decision on this? What is it about this sound that pulls you in and has you releasing creatively

J: We didn't fully settle on that genre description. That's just the best way I'd describe what we got in the chamber so far. I'm a huge fan of trip hop and 90s video game OSTs, which is a big influence on the instrumentals for Glass Orchid. I like atmospheric songs that you can tell a lot of work went into. It's a lot different than what I'm usually doing with Pillowsnake, which is more abrasive and mistake friendly. It really helps to be ethereal when you got a singer like Samantha on deck, though. That's pretty much everything about her. We might always keep the ethereal part, even if we move away from the trip hop part. 

R: Listening to the sound on IG and the recent release SWALLOWED BY THE SEA. The atmosphere that is created instrumentally really speaks for itself, but with the addition of Samantha's vocals...I feel really makes it "ethereal" because even the vocals towards the end of the track encapsulates the moment and the emotion.

I am always curious about names, especially artistic names/titles. So I have to ask, where does the name Glass Orchid stem from and how would you say it reflects your sound/duo

S: I came up with the Glass because I was raised by my grandmother in a beautiful home, but they kept me very sheltered. I would sometimes stare out the window and could see how life outside this home kept going on, but in the house it was frozen. It almost felt like I was living in a glass castle where I could see people starting their lives and moving on. The Orchid part was because my grandmother had a collection of all these orchid specimen and trees. Outside near my bedroom window, she had a Hong Kong orchid tree planted. Between all the green lush, it was accented with orchid flowers. Everywhere I went inside and out of the house, I was around different  types and colors of orchids. They represent perseverance and mysteriousness. I wanted to pay tribute to her with that part of the name. 

The first song created in this project is TOOK MY EYES. How did both of you work together in bringing this to fruition? The sound, the vocals, lyrics ect. What roles did both of you play into this

J: I wanted to write a chord based song on a church like organ. I used an 808 drum machine plugin and came up with the percussion. It came about pretty naturally. I've always been more riff oriented when it came to writing, so it was a fun challenge. We had watched that movie The Northman prior to writing this, and Sam was really inspired lyrically about that. She was enamored by the mythology and concepts of destiny. She wrote the melody over everything I had underneath. It's really a good insight towards how we work together. 

R: I like how Jacob mentions "it came about pretty naturally." I feel this may also play part to the "close to home" mentioned earlier. This made me think about curiosities, still having childlike curiosity which is beautiful especially to let your imagination roam, being enamored by an interest for example. I can def see how the pairing works. Two creative minds, but creatively pursuing this endevour together.

Since your first performance you mention on a post that you've been playing PTSDreams as the opening song since then. Do you feel as if this is to set the room or is there another notion/thought when deciding this?

J: It's exactly to set the mood. That's the most traditionally trip hop song we got, full of dub like percussion and James Bond guitars. When the 2nd half hits where Sam screams though, that's what really gets people locked in. It's fun watching the audience react to her singing. You can see the moment their heads are blown off. 

S: I'm very intuned to my dream world. I feel like when i sleep, I live another life. It's interesting to be able to put my waking life and dream life together in a song. Im trying to bring the audience into a dream when I perform it, and I awaken them when I scream.

R: That's so well put, there's beauty and the best way I can explain a window bursting at the seems. That's the moment. PTSDreams, the moment before it all.

Listening and re-listening to the recently released track SWALLOWED BY SEA. I can understand the "ethereal trip hop." The "I NEED YOUR LOVE" then switching around 2:39 feel as I'm sinking, but just not in any ordinary waters, but within myself. Could you share about your recent release in terms of the thought process and what it makes YOU feel listening to this. What do you wish to evoke from this track to the listener?

S: It's exactly that. It feels like your not drowning in a body of water, but inside yourself. The weight of life is drowning you. The biggest inspiration for this was Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, specifically Laura Palmer. People who've seen it would understand what lead to her being found drowned. She didn't die drowning, she died unfortunately from the circumstances of her life choices by the fault of a demon.

J: I wanted to write a song with multiple parts that kept getting bigger and bigger. That part you mentioned at 2:39 was where everything falls apart into something else. It really doesn't have a true chorus, but it's a really addicting track as a roller coaster of interesting moments. I take pride in helping put that together. When B11ce, our co-producer, came in to help spruce it up, he really highlighted those moments. The drama is from the contrasts. 

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It's almost a year since your first performance back in September 26th. A whole year. How do you feel about that? How do you wish to keep working on your craft and your music?

S: I remember a conversation between us and the promoter Tigers Blood about our performance at the Mint Field show. He enjoyed it and loved our presentation. I told him not to get too used to what we're presenting, cause we aren't gonna be sounding exactly like this forever. We're trying to perfect newer sounds with newer emotions. That's what we do behind the scenes, experimenting with different sounds and perfecting our songwriting. We're just gonna keep evolving and staying in a constant state of metamorphosis. 

J: I'm glad to be apart of something that's really striking a different set of emotions that I'm used to. I like stretching my wings to cover multiple things like that. 

R: Samantha mentioned "newer sounds with newer emotions." While we have an emotion creatively we may portray that shouldn't stop us from diverging. Since creatively this is an outlet and as music as people we change. Best way Samantha put is "we're just going to keep evolving." YEAR ONE! Keeps those wings stretched Jacob, for there are many grounds to cover.

A year and celebrating a year playing at an upcoming show September 26th. Could we have a hint of what it is you have in store for us?

S: More energy and different sounds. Since we have B11ce, expect more upbeat sounds added. He's been a great addition for Glass Orchid and I couldn't have asked for anyone better for the job. Expect new merch and a new song released too. 

R: Looking forward to being there! How exciting!

Any final comments you'd like to add?

S: I appreciate everyone who has experienced Glass Orchid live at shows, who's made time to support and follow us. All the people who've reached out and expressed how much they enjoyed it. It's because of yall that we keep pushing and continue to reach new people with our art. 

J: I'm glad that I'm not only in a great band, but one with my wife. That's something not everyone can say.