Frankrijk is de bakermat van synthwave. Het subgenre binnen de elektronische muziek waar onze harten sneller van gaat kloppen. Een nieuwe ster aan die Franse horizon luistert naar de naam DeMarty. Met zijn recent verschenen debuutalbum ¨DeMarty EP¨ mixt Florent oude met nieuwe geluiden en creëert hij zo een nieuw stukje muzikale geschiedenis. Tijd om kennis te maken met deze sympathieke Fransman. Tijd voor een interview!
France is the cradle of synthwave. The subgenre within electronic music that makes our hearts beat faster. A new star on that French horizon is named DeMarty. With his recently released debut album "DeMarty EP", Florent mixes old with new sounds, creating a new piece of musical history. Time to meet this sympathetic Frenchman. Time for an interview!
Florent, can you please introduce yourself?
Well, my name's Florent, by now in my thirties. I grew up and live in the north of Paris. I compose and produce electronic music for a decade now and I'm the man behind DeMarty, a global project started three years ago, in which I can express myself in so many ways and put a lot of my interests and passion for music, pop culture, storytelling... Music has been part of my life since my childhood. I started to learn solfeggio when I was 6 but my passion started to burn when my father gave me my first keyboard. Instinctively, and because I always want to get to the bottom of it, I learned by myself how to record, to mix and deliver my own sounds.
Congratulations with your debut EP ¨DeMarty¨, which was released in November of last year. When you started to work on this EP, what was your idea of how the end result should sound like?
Thank you Sander. You know, for me the holy grail in music is the idea of concept albums, a common thing in the late 70's. This fits well with my will to melt electronic music and sci-fi movies background, it allows me to tell a story, without any word. I want people to become a director and imagine their own stories based on the music I made. You can see this as a soundtrack for a movie yet to be shot. So I want my music to be inspiring. And in my opinion, the 80's decade is all about this inspiring vision of the future, that we completely lost today, for the reasons we all know, from global warming to terrorism, pandemic... Therefore I know I would deal with retro synthesizers sounds, but I didn't want to make a carbon copy of this era, rather to revisit this retro state of mind, with an actual vibe and energy, with the technology of today.
I really like the different styles you put into this EP. Synthwave, EDM, electro, rock; it all melts together like fresh butter in hot milk. What is your relation to these music styles and which artists inspired you by creating your own style?
You're right and these styles are just what I listen to in day-to-day life. I tend to put a lot of the rock energy in my music. I remember discovering legends of the rock on my dad's turntable, like the Beatles, the Who, Pink Floyd. Electro came later and I remember the firsts hits of the late 90's, and the French Touch coming with obviously Daft Punk. I also recollect the tunes from people like Moby, Air, Massive Attack, which reminds me of this era. I'm also in phase with some great today's projects, like French 79, 3LAU, Flume, ODESZA, The Toxic Avenger...
Talking about inspiration from other musicians. As you are from France, you ofcourse know the legendary Jean-Michel Jarre. What do you think of his music?
Here again, I clearly recall my parents listening to his music, so it's a Proust's madeleine for me. I certainly can say that every electronic music producer owes so much to his work. Would electronic music be the same without Oxygène? I mean all these noises sounds commonly used in EDM and other electronic styles during buildups and as FX fillers come from here. He took a laboratory and scientific approach of "Musique concrète", and created a popular, mainstream - in the good way - music that hit the world and inspired many artists.
What is your personal favorite track on your EP?
It is hard to pick up a winner, as I would not share a song I don't love and make me happy. So, I would retain one track, it would be End of Times Party. I never thought I would be able to produce a track in such a Prodigy -like vibe. I really pushed my own limits while staying faithful to DeMarty's sound. This is the most pictureable music of the EP in my opinion. The feeling of urgence, the tension built.
Can you share some of your plans for this year with us?
There are some great things coming this year. I work with some great visual artists to build a global experience and we will focus rightly on End Of Times Party on May 14th, we prepare an exciting animated clip where DeMarty is called my President of the world to save the Universe. Nothing less :) Then, expect some small surprises in the next months, I invite your readers to follow my social profiles and to not miss anything.
On your Facebook page we can see a photo of you in your studio. Can you tell us about your equipment (hardware and software) you use to make music?
You know, until recently I used to create music in a nomadic way, and I started to build this small place recently. I tend to use one well selected equipment for a particular need. I'm a big fan of the Microkorg, which is mainly oriented for trance but also has great retro sounds, coupled with the Roland SH-201, on which I learned the basics of sound synthesis. I also use an Arturia Microbrute to give more analog punch to the sound, and a Yamaha MOX-6 I use as a swiss knife. Therefore, I'm more and more convinced by VST instruments that are getting better through the years, particularly the ones from Native Instruments.
What is your favorite movie of the ´80s and why?
There're so many iconic movies from this decade, if I would choose one, and there'll be no surprise regarding my act's name, but it would be Back To The Future 2, and here's why: there's all the 80's thing in a whole movie. More than the first or the third, you find this poetic, yet outdated but optimistic vision of the future, when Marty arrives in 2015, and sees flying cars, holograms. This ingenious idea that we could achieve great things through technology. And all is so bright, shiny.
And finally any last words to the synthwave community?
I'm really amazed and therefore grateful to Synthwave fans, creators, and influencers like you Sander, for your support, goodwill, and dedication. I'm pleased to see how a starting project like mine is welcomed and I want to thank you all. There are so many artists, all creating such great universes and telling amazing stories. We had and still have hard times locked down at home for many of us and creating imaginary worlds like we do is even more important.
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