«Deep Forest», a popular music artist from France, has recently recorded several tracks together with Erzya folk group «OYME». Erzyaks.ru had an exclusive chance to talk to Eric Mouqet – the man behind «Deep Forest» – and ask questions about his artistic collaboration with the Erzya «Soul Girls», as well as many other things.
Erzyaks.ru: Everyone is expecting a soon release of the new album of DEEP FOREST. Can you please uncover the mystery as to what your fans should be waiting for?
T
he album is really in the «Boheme deep forest» spirit but much more electro oriented.
Erzyaks.ru: What is the conceptual structure of the EVO DEVO album? Will it remind the listeners of something? Will the listeners be able to find in the album something they came across before and have been looking for since?
A
ccording to the people who already listen to the full album, they consider Evo Devo as the «best» I ever done… They felt that Deep Forest spirit from the early album is back with a complete touch of modernity.
I don’ want to be consider as «»arrogant” but I have to say that I agree…, I feel very happy and proud with this album, I believe I could manage to compose tracks and bring Deep Forest to a complete and solid modern sound.
Erzyaks.ru: What is the back story of the album? Quite often a new release implies a lot of tedious hard work, which takes a lot of time. How long does it take you to come up with new material?
I
t tooks me almost a year to compose, I did like 30 tracks and at the end of the process I kept only half of it. I used mainly analog equipment for it as I wanted to create sounds from scratch and get a vivid vibes with the instrument I used.
Erzyaks.ru: Can you please provide more details regarding EVO DEVO (i.e. track listing, how many music videos etc). Speaking of videos, will the other ones be similar to Oyme’s Song from the artistic perspective? What is the Evolution all about?
I
read a lot about scientist research and was really impressed by the concept of Evolution of development. Considering that every living is coming from the same common basic material. Then a t certain point it evolve to become a single unique being. I tried to apply the same concept when I created and crafted sounds with my synths. Starting from simple sine wave and then shaping it to create unique and expressive sounds.
Erzyaks.ru: Can you please tell our readers how you first met OYME? (i.e. your first impression, first face-to-face meeting, first rehearsals etc).
I
met Oyme in Moscow, we performed on the same stage, I really appreciated the vocal harmony, later they gave me a CD and later again they contacted me with some new material. I was in the process of composing the new album and it was the perfect timing for a collaboration.
Erzyaks.ru: What attracted you the most in Oyme – the fact that they are not Russians or that they are of Finno-Ugric origin?
F
or me it always a question of music, whe you listen to them, music speaks by itself.
Erzyaks.ru: Did you know about the existence of Finno-Ugric peoples prior to meeting OYME?
I
have to say no… So many music to discover on the Earth!
Erzyaks.ru: What is your opinion of the Erzyan songs? Do you think they are solid? Did you listen to authentic performances of Erzyan songs (traditional singing, folk songs) while working on EVO DEVO?
Y
es I saw and listen mainly thru internet, They have a strong skill and like in every strong folk culture it’s very modern to me.
Erzyaks.ru: What did you find to be special about Erzya songs?
I
t’ s beautiful, I don’t get the language but I feel the beauty of the music.
Erzyaks.ru: Do you like artistic experimentation? As an artists, what did you find in the «Soul girls» («OYME» means «Soul» in Erzya language).
E
xperimentation is the basic of my music, so Yes I’m always open to experiment. The main challenge for me was to be able to bring their Vocal harmony in the Specific Deep Forest harmonic Structure. I believe It sounds great !
Erzyaks.ru: How many OYME songs will be part of your new album?
2
songs. Which ones? Oyme’s Song, Simply Done.
How did you select these songs – did someone translate the lyrics for you or did you rely mostly on complementary music motifs? One of the reasons why we are asking this question is the fact that the Oyme’s Song video is quite extraordinary. In this video
Erzyaks.ru: OYME does not look much like its usual self. Was that this premeditated? Would you say that you create by synthesizing?
T
he all process is the one I use I use from the very first Deep Forest album. it’s my personal way of working, and my only concern is to create music with soul. So I produce using various equipment, sometimes working hard on a small section, sometimes just using raw material, it’s very hard to explain, but at the end I want it to sound as «natural» as possible.
Erzyaks.ru: Would it be fair to say that in your new album the listeners will be able to hear (or maybe even see) OYME in a way completely different.
I
don’t know…
Erzyaks.ru: What are your plans for the future?
T
ouring and performing this album with Oyme on stage.
Erzyaks.ru: Do you plan to continue working together with OYME?
S
ure!
Erzyaks.ru: Did you ever receive an invitation to visit an authentic Erzya village? If not, then we are inviting you for a visit! That way you could see for yourself how Erzya people live and personally meet folk song performers.
W
ith great pleasure !
Erzyaks.ru: Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer our question.
T
hanks a lot !
Oyme’s Song (video)
Evo-Devo (text booklet)
Translated by Oleg Volgarev
©«Erzäks.ru»
It is permissible to quote or excerpt from an Erzyaks.ru article;
however, a proper link to the source of the article is mandatory.
Leave a Comment