Last year the French synthwave producer A.GE made his debut with two beautiful EPs. Space and light play, for inspiration, an important role in making new music. This year promises again to be a special year when we look what´s on the agenda for A.GE. It´s time to found out more in this interview.
A.GE, can you please introduce yourself?
Hello everyone! I am Adrien, aka A.GE, and I make synthwave. My music is inspired by Space and Light, two themes that are the main subject of my creations. I have been making music for more than 10 years and started this project back in October 2018.
How do look back at 2019?
Well, to say 2019 has been a fantastic year is just scratching the surface of it!
I released my first EP, 'Jupiter's Touch', back in April and it just kept on getting better and better everyday since then. I had the chance to be interviewed on a Canadian radio and my music got aired on multiple radio shows. I have been able to put out 2 EPs and 2 singles in total, I met some wonderful artists on the way, got involved in some new projects... Overall, it has been the best year of my life, as an artist but also generally speaking.
What are your plans for this year?
To make this year even better than the previous one, that's for sure! I got many projects on the way but my main focus is to start playing my music live here in France as a starter. I am currently working on an album that will be built mostly for this purpose. It will be a bit different from what I made until now, since I completely changed my set-up and the way I was composing music compared to last year, but the ideas I have for it are really coming together and I cannot wait to hear the final results. You will probably hear about it in the next couple months.
I am also working on an EP in collaboration with The Institute 91', who is a good friend of mine now and I am really looking forward to what will come out of it. It sounds really promising already. Playing live is also the opportunity for me to grow a bit more attention to the genre and I would like to organize some shows around this, being able to work with other artists to put up some events and grow a solid community locally. I find that most people aren't even aware that this genre exists and if I can contribute to give it a bit more exposure, then I would be very happy !
Talking about your latest album ¨Church of the Stars¨, what can you tell us about this album?
This one is a bit special to me, it's a release I put a lot of myself into and though I would change a lot of things in it now that I hear it today, I think it is perfect the way it is and truely represent the way I was when I made it. The original idea behind this record was to go the opposite way Darksynth does, meaning that the occult imagery and sound is something that really talks to me but I was not sure if I wanted to go this way, so I had the idea to actually make a kind of Lightwave in a sense. My purpose was to make an EP that would speak about a hope, Light and beliefs. Just to make it clear, it is not about the catholic church, it is a more simple concept. This 'Church of the Stars' is actually a cult that worships the Stars and the Universe: The Universe is one infinite thing and we are all a part of it. We all are connected to everything and everyone around us, is it humans, animals, trees, rocks, mountains, seas, planets, moons, suns, etc. and all those connections, these links that binds us together are similar to the infinite numbers of rays a star emits. So we all are Stars, united as one and only infinite Universe. In the end, it is a deep reflexion on myself and the way I see Life in general. It is also bound to a form of Carpe Diem, trying to live the Present at its fullest and not thinking about Past or Future, being there where you are and trying as much as you can to get the most of it, enjoying every step of Life itself. I was not aware at the time that this EP would lead me to these thoughts to be honest, but I guess it's just my way of finding my place in the Universe haha.
What is your favorite movie of the ´80s and why?
It is not really ´80s but I am a big Star Wars fan as you would guess. The Jedi phylosophy is something that has always fascinated me since I was a kid and still do today. I cannot get bored of that franchise, except for the Disney stuff maybe... I did not grow up in the ´80s since I was born in 1991, but it has always been part of my life as far as I recall. My favourites movies of that period would probably be the Back to the Future trilogy, as well as The Neverending Story, among many other ones. Cinema is a medium I find fascinating, but I must admit there are many many movies I haven't seen, making my knowledge in that domain too limited in my opinion. Just recently, I saw an ´80s movie that I truely loved and totally represent the way I like a movie. It is 'Kamikaze' from Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a German director. It is not really bound to the ´80s in the way we see it through synthwave nowadays but that definetely was a great inspiration to me, it is beautifully directed and edited, in the way Fassbinder knows how to do it !
What do you think about the current state of synthwave and where do you think it will be going?
This is a question I thought a lot about, but I don't have a definite answer as I find it to be a very tricky one. Where should a genre go? I feel like this scene has become very productive and there are a lot of artists that make excellent music. But I agree with the statement that there are a lot lot of similar stuff, I have heard many things that were not that personal and even people stealing music from other artists, which is the worst thing when it comes to music in general. The exponential number of artists is not a problem though, everyone is free to make the music they like and I even encourage everyone to do so! The more people are drawn to make synthwave, the more we are in the scene, the more exposure we get, the better. The only thing I can do about this is trying to take a direction where it brings something to the table and that is what I tried to do with 'Church of the Stars' and what I am working on for this year. To be honest, I am currently trying to break my way of making music to make it evolve into something else, and doing so makes me break the codes of synthwave at the same time, which is a very good starting point to really bring something new to the genre, something that would be truely myself.
It is a complicated subject and many people seem to make a big deal out of it, but many others just do not care and that's my way to think about it as well. It will not prevent artists to make music and it will not make me stop listening to it ! Time to let go of the Miami sunset with palmtree over a neon grid? For sure, it is a just a meme by now.
On my end, it is time to make music that is truely personal, genres are just labels and it does not have to define the way we create.
And finally any last words to the (Dutch) synthwave community?
Whoever you are, do not stop believing in yourself, act on a daily basis toward your goal, little by little. Be the person you want to be, but do not rush it, keep faith in your dreams and you will reach it!
PS: If you are making music, do not hesitate to send it to me, I am always eager to hear new stuffs!
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