Can you tell us about your background and how you got started in music?
I have a PhD in Data Science and I originally trained in Physics.
I didn’t really think about becoming a producer/DJ until quite late in life. For a long time it was just a hobby, a creative outlet outside of work – but it became such an obsession over time that it ended up consuming my entire life and I kind of like it this way. It’s really nice to find your voice through music and have the opportunity to pursue it through hard work.
Who are your biggest musical influences? How have these influences shaped your sound and approach to making music?
I grew up in France, so I was exposed quite early to French House music such as Daft Punk, Justice, Stardust, and so many others. But I have always liked all kinds of music, so I never really limited myself to a particular genre and ended up listening to a lot of indie/alternative rock bands too like Depeche Mode, Radiohead, Placebo – so I was highly influenced by the UK music scene as well. Burial, Massive Attack, Portishead and Morcheeba are other examples of the UK scene that I cherish to this day. And I definitely like the sound of the 80’s and 90’s a lot – so when I design a sound, I sometimes tend to gravitate in that direction.
What has been the highlight of your career so far? Do you have any good tour stories to share? And what’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
There were a lot of “firsts” for me in 2023, which I’m very proud of. I started to play in the biggest San Francisco venues such as 1015 Folsom, Audio SF, and The Great Northern. My first track “In Verse Correlation” hit 100,000 plays on Spotify, I produced and released 5 tracks including my first remix of “Running To The Sea” by Röyksopp featuring the haunting vocals of Susanne Sundfør. Towards the end of the year, one of my tracks, Neblina, ended up reaching the Top 10 of Beatport Hype. While these achievements might seem small for some people, they were quite significant for me and I like acknowledging them rather than taking them for granted.
I have not been on tour yet, but I traveled to Tulum, Mexico last year to record one of my sets with Ephimera. I stayed in a hotel in the middle of the jungle, so I ended up with a lot of mysterious visitors entering my rooms and stealing my grapes (apparently, they were super smart at unlocking doors). By the end of the stay, the hotel staff nicknamed me “Snow White“, because all these raccoons (and other animals) knew where to party at night. It’s one of my favorite memories, as I feel a deep emotional connection with animals in general.
So far (knock on wood) no worst ever job to report – mainly issues related to last-minute equipment changes, old & dysfunctional setups, tricky line-ups – all situations that can make it hard to get through a gig and sometimes even unpleasant, but nothing I would qualify as horrible yet!
Can you tell us about the challenges you’ve faced in your career and how you’ve overcome them?
The main challenges so far have been to juggle two demanding careers (data scientist + music producer/DJ) at the same time while promoting yourself on social media & being your own marketing expert, talking to record labels to get your tracks released, reaching out to curators to get on their playlists or to event promoters/club owners to get gigs, etc. It can be a lot to handle! Hence, you won’t see me going out a lot as I’m managing my time very carefully to be able to make it.
What advice would you give to make it as a professional?
Keep going even when no one is clapping for you, even though it can feel very lonely at times. Don’t lose yourself in the process, and most importantly don’t give up, because that might be your biggest regret in the end – to not have pushed enough and to never know what could have happened.
How do you handle music requests? And what do you do when the equipment goes on strike?
The booths in the clubs I usually play have restricted access to the public, so I rarely have to deal with requests. But when I do, I say YES with a big smile and just continue with the set as planned.
When the equipment goes on strike, I again put on a big smile and try to react as fast as I can to fix it. In those moments, I just try to breathe and stay calm so I can figure out what the problem is.
Describe your sound to someone who has never heard you before. And what would you do if you weren’t a musician?
When I produce, I aim for a deep and hypnotic sound, full of profound emotions while driving through solid basslines. I’m definitely more on the underground part of the electronic music spectrum. My sets can be quite eclectic, easily changing between techno genres while maintaining a compelling story line.
I already have a solid career in data science, but if I were to go back in time and not make or play music, I would most likely become an animal rights lawyer, in an attempt to become their voice and fight to improve their welfare.
What is the most important music equipment invention of all time – and why?
Apart from the speakers, I would say converters. It’s amazing that we can all produce amazing work at home with only a computer, a sound card and a pair of speakers. You can use a computer and headphones as well (built-in computer converters), but the evolution of converters allows for high end vocal/instrument recordings in rooms with no acoustics. Nowadays the difference in quality between an affordable audio interface and an expensive one is not as distant as it was 20 years ago. There is still a difference, but the budget options became usable to professionals who wouldn’t dare to use them before. So if it wasn’t for the evolution of converters, we wouldn’t have this incredible access to so many instruments and plugins from a home scenario.
How do you typically start a new track, and what key elements or techniques do you focus on when developing it?
I don’t really have a single way of working on a track: I can start sequentially on the intro, first break, etc. or I can start with the main drop by choosing all the main elements and then go back to the beginning of the track. However, in general, I get an idea and then start working on creating the bassline, the kick, the drums and so on.
I would then look for the right melody by sometimes creating some chords that I might not even end up using in the project later on, and find some vocal samples that I can add to it. Good sound design is extremely important to me; I sometimes spend days just creating my presets and drums so when I start a new track, I can quickly get to professional sounding results with my new ideas.
If I work on a remix, I generally only use selected vocals of the original song. Sometimes I use the original melody and/or chords as a way to help the listeners make the connection, but the rest of the track is entirely new.
How did this project come about and what inspired you to make it?
“In this Shirt” is one of my favorite songs of all time, so I decided to make it a tribute to my English bulldog Edgy, who suddenly passed away two years ago. It was completely heartbreaking…The lyrics are about heartache and loss, so they resonated really deeply with me. I only used a part of the vocals and leveraged some of the original melody to tell my own story.
Your latest project is just gaining momentum, can you tell us a bit about it?
Thank you so much! I’m so happy because this track is so deeply emotional and close to my heart. But of course, I really aimed to produce a techno version of it to really put an Elegie spin on it. This time my approach was different though: I started by creating a long intro to build the tension, arranged two significant breaks to progressively introduce the vocals supported by arps. I added a melody with an epic tone and for the last drop, I came back full-power with a groovy bassline and all main elements of the track for the grand finale!
Can you tell us about any upcoming projects or collaborations you have in the works?
I’m now building a new set, which will be filmed in a very special location. I have been working very hard to make it as unique as possible. It will be my first set made up almost entirely of Elegie’s exclusives, and I plan to release it mid-year. Stay tuned!
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