Barely back from a gig in Corsica, Spelim took some time out to talk about his debut album, In Art We Trust. A generous exchange to discover right away!
Unis Son: Let’s jump right in! Your album, In Art We Trust, is a love letter to Arts. It felt filled with influences from many different genres.
Spelim: Yeah, totally.
US: You’ve got pop, reggae, electro, and some rock influences, too. Some strong visual influences, sometimes contemplative. Are there any particular artists, either in music or visual arts, who inspired you? What’s the concept being your album?
Spelim: Well, I’ve definitely been influenced by a lot of artists. But not directly, more indirectly. I didn’t think, “I want to sound like that.” I’ve got a lot of artists who’ve influenced me, but it’s difficult to name them exactly. It’s more my whole culture that’s brought me here. I’m a big fan of visual arts in general, especially street art. I work with an artist called Rino and his friend Cofee. We do a lot together.
I have a lot of musical influences, and visual influences as well. I’m really into contemporary art and pop culture. So, colourful things, and all that. I’ve got a pretty poor knowledge of “classical” art, let’s say. But I do appreciate the works of Armand and Klein. I really like them. My wife and I were at the Louis Vuitton Foundation two weeks ago, seeing an exhibition on pop culture that was incredible.
US: To follow up on what you were saying, you feel like you don’t have a classical culture, but you still mention Klein. Isn’t that name quite “classic” in modern art?
Spelim: Yeah, yeah, it’s modern art. But I’m not particularly well-versed in romanticism. All that stuff, I don’t really know. I’m blown away when I’m in front of really cool paintings, but I don’t have the cultural background for all that. To be completely honest, I mostly go with my gut. Whether it’s music or visuals. I give myself possibilities. I have a tool at home, which is my garage. For example, we did the album cover there. It’s an anamorphosis. And that, it’s all gut feeling. I’m lucky enough to have the opportunity to have an idea and try it straight away. And the music videos we’ve done were all made there. That’s the exciting part. I start from the idea that anything can be done.
US: You talk about gut feeling, and indeed, there’s something very humanistic, and therefore fundamentally political, in this album. How do you position it within the current climate, as it is? For me, it was a bit like medicine. Did you see it that way during its creation?
Spelim: Absolutely. I do it because it excites me and it feels good. I made myself a promise, which is that music is for pleasure. Yes, I earn my living from it. But if I no longer find pleasure in it and it doesn’t feel good, I won’t do it anymore. I’ll find another job. It’s ridiculous to make music for anything other than pleasure! Whether it’s music or art in general. For pleasure or for your own well-being. Some people do it. It doesn’t necessarily please them, but it brings them something good. And for me, it’s a pleasure to do it on top of that.
But yeah, for me, it’s a hell of a medicine! It’s this invisible thing that acts like medicine. And we’re lucky enough to be able to do shareable things. To give a bit of pleasure to people who want to take it. That’s really cool! Politically speaking, yeah, it resonates. Especially with what’s happening in the United States. I named my album In Art We Trust in response to ‘In God We Trust’. And right now, it almost makes me laugh! It’s a bit of a cheeky twist, I didn’t expect it to be this strong! It was amusing at first because I thought it was funny. But now, it’s taking on even more significance… The image is even funnier, even though what’s happening is frustrating.
Now Playing: Pirate Society
US: With that in mind… Pirate Society is quite critical, So Far is much more poetic, Daemon speaks about our inner demons, strengths and weaknesses. We’ve said that you go by gut feeling. But were there themes that kept recurring during the creation process?
Spelim: The songs just sort of come to me… I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s not something where I think, “Okay, I’m going to talk about this.” It just comes naturally. I only talk about things that already touch me. There are periods of doubt, and I talk about that. About how I live with it, and how I cope. For example, a painful friendship breakup hit me hard because it was a bit brutal, I talk about that in So Far. I don’t necessarily explain that it’s a friendship breakup in the song. I just explain that there’s a distance growing between me and someone else. Then, people take it however they want. To me, it means what I hear.
But I don’t make a list of subjects beforehand. Just like with the visuals, it’s not very conscious. More strangely, I make music without writing it down, and I don’t really have themes in mind. I talk to my partner and ask her, “What does this make you think of?” And she guides me towards something. That leads me somewhere else. Maybe not exactly what she said in the beginning, but things bounce off each other. I find the meaning in something that didn’t have any at first.
US: You say it’s partly unconscious. So, does that mean Art is God? What’s the place of spirituality in your process?
Spelim: In the way I make music, yeah, I think so. To go further, since I was very young, I think I don’t have much spirituality. I don’t believe in any particular god. I’ve always had a lot of faith in human beings. That’s always been my point of view. And art is a ritual for me. We all make a little piece of art, really. There aren’t really any true artists on this planet. We all create our own little things. Even if it’s something insignificant. Everyone creates something. No matter what you think of it. That’s something I like. So yeah, there’s a bit of spirituality in that. It’s mine, and it’s personal. Even if it’s probably very childish in the end.
US: But, it’s nice to have a bit of childishness too, right? It’s what we were saying, it’s good for our inner children…
Spelim: Yeah, totally! Absolutely! I’ve got a song called We Are Children.
US: Yeah! And, like we can hear on this track, you make music that’s very feel-good. But you don’t ignore the darker moments. The moments of distance, friendship breakups, things that can be really painful. How did you balance the feel-good with the less feel-good? Were you aware of it?
Spelim: Well, yeah, a bit. I sort of forced myself to talk about things that weren’t necessarily going well. Because it’s less natural for me to do that. I think that’s just my overall personality. Even though I’m someone who’s pretty easy to read. On the days when it shows, there’s no doubt, everyone knows. But I still find it difficult to turn all that into music, because I tend to want to make fun things in my studio. And I realised, by sort of forcing myself to do it, that there can be a fun side to making sad things. In the end, I found pleasure in doing it. And even in working with different interpretations too.
Now Playling: We Are Children
US: So, after the release of the album, what’s next?
Spelim: I’ve already started writing new songs. There are also quite a few dates coming up. I’ve already got about thirty dates lined up for 2025, mostly in summer, at festivals and stuff. And after that, more music videos, more visuals. We’ll be shooting a bit, in my garage. We’ll be making new things.
US: We’ve come to the last question! What’s your earliest musical memory?
Spelim: My earliest musical memory? It’s funny because it’s a memory I’ve never been sure if it was something that happened in my head, or if it was created because it was told to me. You know, there are memories like that. You have images in your head but you’re not sure. Actually, I was born with a malformation in my eyes. You can see it, I have a funny face. I didn’t have muscles in my eyelids, and they took muscles from my leg to graft them into my eyes, which gives me the face I have now.
And, when I was really small, like really small, my brother played the piano and my sister did too. Not very well, but they played. I have this memory of being on my brother’s lap, him playing the piano, and me tapping on it like an idiot. That’s the first memory I have of music. After that, I have hundreds of others, from when I was really little… From the age of 10 to 15-16, I spent a lot of time at a piano at home too. But I like this one.
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Massive thanks to Spelim for his time and generosity, and to Cassandre for organising it. Spelim will be touring France this year – more info here.
