1. Hi, PENSEES NOCTURNES. How are you? Do you have any fresh news you would like to share with readers of MORTEMZINE? What are you currently doing?
Hi, I’m fine thank you. At the risk of disappointing you I don’t have any exciting news to share but everything if ok which the most important thing isn’t it?
2. Tell us something about the history of this project. When did it start, what is its goal, what position in your life does it have, or even why have you called it PENSEES NOCTURNES?
Pensées Nocturnes is a one man band which provides me the opportunity to express myself without other constraints than my imagination. It’s really difficult to work in symbiosis within a band and concessions aren’t easily made when related to art. This project lies on a Black Metal basis and approaches many other influences to fit to what I have in mind. No matter what is usually done. No matter what people want. Pensées Nocturnes is the image of how I see music, what I really want to listen to. I’ve composed the first song (Flore) in August 2008 and Vacuum, the first album was released in April 2009. In this sunny day we are talking about Grotesque, the second album, released in March 2010.
As for the name of the project, night is the time when we’re getting blind again, when we relive this period of the evolution when human beings on their 4 members couldn’t use sight to feel the danger coming. It’s a time of insecurity and thus relativity. Just try one night to lie on grass in a place you don’t know listening to Grotesque from the beginning to the end with no image neither sound from outside. Then you will get what it means.
3. I really like your last album “Grotesque”. I found it quite different in comparison with “Vacuum”, which I have liked even more. What is your opinion? Where do you think, you have moved with this work? Can you compare these two albums?
Vacuum was my first experience in terms of composition, recording and mix and today I feel I better master these processes. Grotesque is more mature and looks more like what I’m looking for. I think it is more complex in terms of composition but of concept also. On the one hand Grotesque goes deeper on the “mixing everything” thing and thus is more absurd and ludicrous than Vacuum which is more common if I may say. But on the other hand there are more brutal parts and thus more extreme metal pieces on Grotesque, Vacuum being more languorous. So to sum up I would say Grotesque is at the same time less serious and rougher, less righteous and more unhealthy than Vacuum. I think the main improvements between these albums concern the production, the voice and the composition, far more original and complex.
4. I’ve seen many “labels” that were tagging your work as “depressive”, or even “suicidal”. Are you familiar with calling your music using such words?
Pensées Nocturnes can be called whatever you want, that doesn’t matter to me. I see music as a whole, and to compare or make styles confront each other is just a waste of time. I play Blues, Black Metal, Death Metal, Classical Music, Jazz, Post Rock, etc... I don’t understand how can people follow some denominations and create real conflicts between two words. What’s Black Metal? What’s Death Metal? Is it possible to define such styles precisely? Except some sociologists not much meticulous, nobody has the nerve to do such a work. I think it’s a waste of time to try to catalogue everything, to put words on each notes. Music is the only thing that matter, and I am just a guy who plays music.
5. On ”Vacuum”, I felt massive influence from classical music. One track even consisted of the sample taken from Chopin’s classic track. How does the classic music influence you, or what is your relation to such music? Any favorite authors?
Honestly I didn’t really try to copy a band or a musical style and the fact I have no musical training and I have learned everything by myself makes it possible to create something really personal. Sure I’m not credulous, Pensées Nocturnes isn’t a revolution and is influenced by what I’m used to listening to but it is not a purpose I try to fulfill when I compose. We can indeed find some references to classical composers in “Grotesque” as well as in “Vacuum” but it is just a modest homage. So I can’t really tell you what artists inspired me, but I can at least tell you what I’m used to listening to: generally speaking I prefer to judge bands on a case by case basis and try to avoid cataloging as far as possible: Black Metal obviously (in all its forms: Symphonic, True, Depressive, Melodic,… ), Death Metal, Classical Music (mainly Romantic Period and the following ones), Blues, Jazz, Post-Rock, French variety…
6. How did you record “Grotesque”? Are you satisfied with the result? Did it meet your expectations?
Actually composition and recording follow the same process as I always try to see what an idea looks like and I can’t imagine it with only a piece of paper. It’s what makes it possible to evolve and to try new things since I can follow every lead. I’ve nothing to lose because if it’s worth I keep it otherwise I try something else. So actually there is no separation between the preparation and the studio… Then I’m sure the result will be what I want because I can take all the time I need. It’s not comparable with a band which has imagined its songs on a paper and has to hurry to record its album without being able to change anything…
7. I’ve noticed your pretty solid technical skills. Are you a self-learner, or do you have some musical education? Do you think that musical education is important, when creating, or playing music? Or both?
Except a few years of piano quickly forgotten there is not that much to say about my musical background. Actually musical education is more or less important depending on what you want. If your purpose is to create complex and impressive symphonies you obviously need a good musical knowledge but when we are talking about experimentation, there is no rule to follow… However you need to master the basics of music to be able to go beyond them but without going to deep into them to avoid being too much influenced. I think it is necessary to reach a compromise between knowing nothing about music and not being able to think by yourself due to a hard music training.
8. PENSEES NOCTURNES is just a one man project. Can you imagine PENSEES NOCTURNES as a band with other people?
I often play with other people and I also play live with other bands which means that PN is a way for me to try something different. I can assure you that running a project alone is quicker than having to deal with a lot of individualities and points of view: it’s more spontaneous and coherent. You don’t have to convince anybody, to agree on something, to rehearse, to deal with the fifth wheel… Sure sometimes you may feel a little impatient because it’s a lot of work but it’s really pleasant to feel you master everything. The other reason is that it’s impossible to innovate when reducing the instruments used to two guitars and a bass. I think that together with only using (often unconsciously) the minor harmonic scale, this is the origin of the fact everybody is doing the same thing again and again. How do you want to do something new if you begin by restricting yourself on the choice of the instruments? What I mean is that you won’t ask for a trumpet player to come to play only a few notes on the whole album, and this is particularly true for a band which plays live. You just do it yourself.
9. I’ve noticed that your vocal discourse has slightly changed in comparison with “Vacuum”, was it on purpose, or you just wanted to sound different?
Well I have received a lot of reproaches due to the voice in Vacuum and I wanted to make fun of this by incorporating in Grotesque a clean voice quite false. Therefore I’m quite disappointed a lot of people like it. One of the main improvements compared to Vacuum is that Grotesque contains a lot of different vocals to fit for this kind of combination of different atmospheres. I always try to avoid linearity and boredom so I needed diversity in vocals too.
10. Can you describe the lyrics concept of your last record and compare it with “Vacuum”?
Life doesn’t have a deep meaning, a precise objective, an absolute truth. The fact that human lives rest on their share of illusions and are led by a never-ending hope is undeniable. Nothing we do has an existential foundation aside from spending time. As if life comes down to everything that allows us to forget life… But despite this emptiness we have to “live anyway” and this kind of nihilism makes it possible to see life from a totally different point of view and to try to create something from this absurdity, something that you have chosen, something that don’t have to be conventional or “normal”. It’s a losing battle so we have to make fun of life and laugh at our condition. Grotesque is a little bit of all this things. I don’t really want to talk about Vacuum anymore, Grotesque following the same concepts but with more time to stand back and assess these thoughts.
11. I also like your second project called VALHOLL. Can you tell the readers of MORTEMZINE more about it? Could it be interesting for the people who liked PENSEES NOCTURNES?
I don’t think so. I mean even if I play in these two projects, the approaches of music are completely different and therefore I don’t think fans of PN would automatically like Valhôll. We talked about the fact PN is a solo project before and the freedom it implies which is something you don’t have in Valhôll but it’s also why I play in bands too: interfering with other individualities and points of view can also be enriching and compromises are easier to accept when you have your own project waiting aside for all your ravings. Valhôll is a quite Brutal Black Metal band dealing with what people call usually a paganism ideal even is the concept behind Valhôll is not that much paganism in terms of belief but a nostalgia of nature compared to the link we have with it today.
12. What can we expect in the future from both projects?
Pensées Nocturnes is a long term project and I’m continuously working on it. To give you an idea of this, Grotesque has been recorded months ago and I’ve done a lot of things since then. I really have a lot of ideas for the future. As for Valhôll, we haven’t planned anything for the moment, it’s more a “we’ll see” project.
13. Thank you for your time. Last lines in each of our interviews belong to the band itself. Feel free to write anything :)
Thank you for your interest and all the best for the future. Remember that nothing exists, everything has to be invented.
