FLEUR DU MAL: A perfect blend of Shoegaze, Post-Rock and 80s indie pop
FLEUR DU MAL is a duo from Paris, France, created in 2019.
“We offer a seamless blend of a wide array of sounds, from French "chanson" to Post-Metal, and everything in between.”
It is an apt description. I am really fond of their music that cleverly includes some of the music I have loved (and still love) with clear influence from 80’s French Pop (Etienne Daho), French Shoegaze (Welcome to Julian, Dead horse One) and French Post-Rock (Alcest) .
It seems an unlikely mix, but FLEUR DU MAL managed bringing everything together, never copycating, creating their own unique blend of music. They may be the only band to have suceeded such an extraordinary feat. Etienne Daho would been proud (listen to the cover below).
Their way they singing also reminds me of one of my favourite French Shoegaze bands of the 90s, the Sigh, that you can find in exclusivity on Noise Artists Bandcamp portal (LP is available, EP will be soon).
Needless to say that I quickly became a huge fan of their music, with so many sounds I love and so many memories arising from listening to their music. I recon that many French indie fans of my generation will have the same reaction and hopefully all the following generations.
The music work to date is:
2020: Spleen II, EP
2019: Spleen I, EP; Regrets, single; Soleil, single
Their 2 EPs have a similar structure:
An intro mixing electronica an guitar indie without Lyrics but with simple and captivating melodies and structures.
Song 3 is a cover (Etienne Daho and Jean-Louis Murat respectively, 2 of the godfathers of the French 80’s Indie movement).
Song 5 is a finale with a more Postgaze feel that draws longer, over 7 minutes
And now the (great) interview.
Who are the group members?
The band is comprised of Obermann and Faber. We are two veterans on the Parisian indie scene, played in too many bands to mention them all. Suffice to say we played almost everything, from French pop to Stoner.
How did you meet?
We met through friends and began to go to concerts together and talk about music. When you’re both fans of Prince and Deafheaven, there’s a lot in between to chew over!
How did you come up with your name?
FLEUR DU MAL, the name as well as the overall concept, was Obermann’s idea. We wanted to have something literary, which refers to French classicism with a hint of subversion thrown into it. And romanticism, too. Our nicknames, also, refer to literary figures.
What is your music about?
Our music is mostly about feelings and atmospheres as opposed to tangible things. We favour escapism and sentiment over reality. Besides, we prefer to have people make their own minds about our lyrics, which are very general and open to interpretation.
What are your goals as an artist artistically/commercially?
First, we want to play for ourselves and the people we love. Almost all good music, from Stax soul music to old school hip hop, has been created to bring people together, not to make money. That being said, we want to be heard by as many people as we can.
What are you trying to avoid as a band?
Doing things solely for commercial purposes, copying things that are fashionable. Being really indie and getting to a certain age brings you some perspective. We probably won’t get rich doing this so why bother doing things that get in the way of artistry just for success?
Why do you make the music you make? Is it in you? Is it your environment?
Both, we guess. We don’t believe in revelation, this idea that music comes at us naturally and that we’re just vessels for it. It’s first and foremost a lot of work. That being said, once we come up with a new idea for a song, things progress very quickly.
What inspire you for the music or for the Lyrics?
We are ardent fans of music. We listen to a lot of things and love “pop culture” in the largest sense of the term. For this project, specifically, we dug deep into the records we were listening to when in our teenage and early adult years: 90s alternative rock and metal, early post-rock, etc. Our lyrics, on the other hand, are very personal and always in French. It makes for an interesting encounter, we think.
Tell us what you are looking when trying to achieve your sounds. Do you experiment a lot or have a clear idea of what you want?
From the very start, we had a very precise idea of what we wanted to achieve sound-wise: a mix of shoegaze, post-rock and alternative metal. Very early in the creative process, we decided we would do this without live drums because a drummer tends to impose a specific aesthetics that would have undermined the overall coherence of our sound.
Also, because we sing in French and French has a specific sound that does not always match rock music so well, we wanted to have our voices slightly higher in the mix than what is usual heard in this type of music. This, we think, renders our sound more original than most non-Anglo-American Shoegaze and Indie Rock bands, who rarely sing in their native language.
One way to make sure our sound would have some personality was to record covers of our favourite French artists. We treated those songs as if they were originals and this helped us sharpen our sound.
Describe your palette of sound.
There is duality in everything we do. On the one hand, there are ethereal sounds, overdriven guitars that are drenched in delays and modulation effects.
On the other hand, there is a ground- shaking bass sound and heavily saturated rhythm guitars, both reminiscent of 90s alternative metal. Our gear is pretty straightforward, though.
We mainly use Boss and Electro-Harmonix pedals, either stock or modded, as well as a few fancier toys, but not too many. Drum machine sounds are kept as minimal and dry as possible, to provide a space of expression for anything else.
Who would you want as a dream producer, and why?
One of our pride has been to be able to produce a highly personal and recognizable sound without the help of a producer. We just have someone working on our mastering. But if we had to choose someone, and because we’re talking about dreams, here, why not Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross?
If you could guest on someone else’s album, who would it be and why? What would you play?
What would be fun to do would be to bring our heavily distorted and ethereal sound to artists that do not usually have this sort of musical universe, like a country or pop singer. If Etienne Daho, the godfather of modern French pop, wants us to produce his next record, we’re ready for this!
What musical skills would you like to acquire or get better at?
It’s great to play within your own limitations, right. That being said, we always like to try new things: practice palm-muted rhythmic parts at high tempos, for instance. Obermann likes to train playing technical prog death metal.
Which other musician/artist would you date?
We do not make music in order to get laid!
Is there a band that if they didn’t exist you wouldn’t be making the music you make?
Hard to name one but Alcest has been particularly influential to us. Neige has invented a style of music that merged the spirit of Black Metal with elements of Shoegaze and Dream Pop and there is no word to express how indebted we are to him. We strongly identify with his artistry and work ethic.
Also, he proved you can be French and make a strong impact abroad.
You are from France what are the advantages and inconvenient?
France has long had a bad image as a rock making country. John Lennon famously made fun of us by comparing French rock music and English food. But as English cuisine itself has gotten better and better throughout the recent period, French rock music has also improved a lot and does not pale anymore in comparison to the scenes in other European countries for instance.
Straightforward rock music sung in French will always sound quite appalling but French musicians are very good when it comes to step aside and mix rock with other elements, electronica for instance. Besides, French metal is now wonderful.
Bands like Gojira or Blut aus Nord are leaders in genres they sometimes contributed to forge. Simply put, there’s no inconvenient in being a French band, only advantages.
What are some places around the world that you hope to play with your band?
Anywhere possible .We had a couple of articles published by South American webzines. It would be great to play there.
When is the next album/EP due?
Our first EP was released in September on Shore Dive Records. The new one just came out , also on Shore DIve Records. It’s relatively brighter than the previous one. There will be a third, darker and metal-indebted one to complete the trilogy. Then, we’ll see… [it was released on Shoredive Records on 24th October]
Some artists you recommend.
Dead Horse One [hopefully soon on Noise Artist ndle], Computers Kill People, Venice Bliss, Brusque, Opium Dream Estate, Catherine Watine, La Féline, Pauline Drand, all good French bands/artists and, more importantly, people we love and respect as human beings. Check them out.
Anything else you want your fans to know?
We already revealed too much!
