Rap and French Touch or Space Jungle, exhibiting DJ duo Polo & Pan
Words: Claudia Brizzi / claude______
The contribution to cultural industries and subcultures, particularly that of Native Americans, is essential to fully understand the musical language of the duo Polo & Pan. With the song Ani Kuni, they decided to support the National Indian Child Care Association (NICCA), a non-governmental organisation that supports the care and education of indigenous children in the United States, beacause “when you borrow something it’s only fair to give back”.
The cross and delight of their work, uniqueness is what characterises them. A sound that is impossible to classify within a specific musical genre, their only aim is to compose music that can have a strong impact on people. Their personal stories and the culture to which they belong affect the daily creation of music and video, not surprisingly, the new album Cyclorama is full of different inspirations, from pop to electronic culture, but also to film and world music.
Photography Fiona Torre
After the first space journey with Caravelle, we are about to embark on a hedonistic excursion through time with Cyclorama, the new album due out on June 25. You have defined it as "a musical odyssey through the stages of human existence from birth to adulthood to death... and transcendence". Would you like to reveal more details?
The idea was just to add a layer of narrative over the songs of the album to invite our audience to think about the theme of human existence. The concept came to us during the first confinement. This was a very special time where we were pulled out of our normal existence and were able to consider our life from a perspective. Of course we never want to be prisoner of a concept, the album is about music we love first and foremost. Hence the requiem is in the middle of the album because we felt it sounded best there.
What are the major differences between Caravelle and Cyclorama?
Caravelle was a studio album we had all the time in the world to compose. Cyclorama was composed on the road during our previous tour. The new LP has more of a balance between solar and lunar songs, whereas Caravelle was full on sunshine.
The new single Tunnel, born from the collaboration with the American singer and rapper Channel Tres, has been described as a "sensual and razor sharp" track. Would you like to explain this definition?
The beat is razor sharp, and the luscious vocals of Channel très bring something sensual to the song.
What is the aspect of this song that people should notice?
We can only make musical suggestions but everyone will have a different interpretation of what makes a song good.
How would you describe this record to someone who is not a fan of electronic music?
The sophomore album of a French electronic duo that have a really big span of inspirations from pop, to electronic culture, but also cinematographic and world music.
Talking about electronic music, why is Europe considered the biggest exponent in the world?
While the scene in the US was still very much around live music in the early 70s , german bands like Kraftwerk went full synthetic and connected deeply with the audience in Europe. they inspired a lot of producers to go towards a more technological sound. There are other pioneers like Jean mIchel Jarre in France that made a deep impression and led Europe towards this new sound.
Rap and French Touch or Space Jungle, as you like to call your music genre, are two worlds that are apparently far apart but can travel on the "same track" as you have demonstrated. What pushed you to undertake this collaboration?
We have never limited ourselves in terms of styles or potential collaborations. Our band has always travelled through styles, time periods, continents and making a leap towards urban music when given the opportunity was only natural. We are both big fans of hip hop as teens of the 90s.
For "Ani Kuni", the first single from the new album, a colorful animated music video was created by Werlen Meyer studio: how important are images in music?
Images are everything to our music. We have been lucky to find another talented duo in Noemie Ferst and Benjamin Moreau (co-creators of radiooooo.com) they have been there since the beginning to help us develop strong images. We also draw a lot from our personal references and culture to develop videos like Dorothy or Pays Imaginaire.
Through this song you have actively supported the National Indian Child Care Association (NICCA), a non-governmental organization that supports the care and education of indigenous children in the United States. How did you come to dedicate yourselves to this association?
Music is, and this song particularly, is about transmission. When you borrow something it’s only fair to give back. In previous songs when we sampled music we always paid royalties. In this case the song being 1400 old, we thought it would be best to support a Native American association. This is only a first step, as the situation with Covid returns to normal we are scheduling a musical collaboration with NICCA to be disclosed soon!
Photography Joe Cruz
You have just announced new dates for the Cyclorama Tour in America and Europe. Why did you decide not to come to Italy? Are you planning to add more dates in the future?
We are in love with Italy. It’s one of the most beautiful countries in the world and it’s a shame we are not going. The Italian audience has been streaming our music a lot... We need to sit down with our tour manager to fix this in the near future!
From the legendary Olympia venue in Paris to Coachella and Electric Daisy festival: what is your goal with your live shows?
We’ve been really blessed with all these shows, but there is so much more to achieve, we would love to travel through South AMerica, South East Asia and go to Australia. But of course we should make a stop in Rome first!
From Paul Armand-Delille and Alexandre Grynszpan to the famous Parisian electro DJ duo Polo & Pan. When did you meet and how did you decide to start this career? And most importantly why did you choose this stage name?
We didn’t choose, it just kind of happened to us after spending a bit of time working in the studio... I guess from our previous many experiences we were ripe to create something original. We chose the name in a few minutes when Hamburger records decided to release Rivolta. We went for something simple, I guess it was a lucky choice for us :)
How does your creative and compositional process take place?
There is no fixed creative process, it’s happening always and is always a bit different. We are always writing down little ideas, voice memos, or saving songs. We start a lot of unfinished material. It’s important to capture a lot of inspirations and then see which ones pass the test of time.
How has music changed since you started until today?
Music like the world has become increasingly digital. When i started Djing i was playing only vinyl (Polo), most producers on the house and hip hop scene were using samplers and not computers to produce. Now most producers are fully digital and only start doing analog when they professionalize.
Many people define your work as a "tropical sound": do you agree with this description?
It’s a big part of our inspiration. We love tropical instruments, we love creating solar music and are very inspired by latin grooves. But our creations go in a lot of directions... In the new album Tunnel, Magic or Requiem can hardly be qualified of tropical sound....
It's not easy to classify your music within a precise musical genre, where do you like to place yourselves?
We like to travel through genres, time periods, languages and BPMs. It’s hard for us to classify our music. I guess you could classify us in electronica if you are really looking for a label. Our concern is only about writing music that moves us!
Do you identify yourselves in the role of successors of Daft Punk and new standard bearers of the French Touch?
It’s a very flattering proposition, we can only be touched to be compared to this mythical duo, but those are really big shoes to put on. We can only dream we will make music that impacts the scene as Daft Punk did. I guess we are happy to be part of the French Touch family, that’s a label we accept graciously
Who are the people in the music scene that have influenced your career?
AIR has been an inspirational French touch duo that we love.
Would you like to write and play the soundtrack of a new film?
One hundred percent. This is a life goal for us. Hopefully we can make it happen soon !
How do you see the future of your music genre?
As said before, our music genre is really hard to define/ I’m not sure there is much of a scene doing what we do. Our uniqueness is a real opportunity and sometimes a cross to bear. We need to find our own path towards creating something that will outlast us.
Tell us the line up of your life!
Chopin, Ennio Morricone, The Door’s, Marvin Gaye, Snoop Dogg, Giorgio Moroder, AIR.