Gypsophile

After five albums, spanning in style from bossanova to free-jazz, Guillaume Belhomme of Gypsophile is today one of the most talented and less compromised artists in the recent French music scene, and surely one of our favourites. In this interview he talks about his newest album, "Les Profils Des Domes", about how his need to explore the many facets of contemporary music has informed his work, and about his new label, Lenka Lente...

"Les profils des dômes" is probably the most intimate of your works, and also your most confident. Do you want to tell us something about it?

I wanted "Les profils des dômes" to be an essential condensed musical form of Gypsophile's music on these days. The thing is, produced by a record label, that I always have to make some concessions, especially on the album we just recorded before this one, "Eloquence des fatigués". If I still like this album, my wish would have been to work more on the dark songs, and to do not publish the "easy fantasy" one. To keep and run on songs like "Vers la mélisse" even if I would have to do not keep "Les femmes à barbe".
Today, as we publish "Les profils des dômes" on our own label, Lenka lente, the wish became reality. The songs are more intimate, as you say, and the structure of the all album is more true, I think, proposing songs that are not songs, or instrumentals not totally melodic.

On the other hand, I wanted to get out, as always this time, a Cd album that give the clues of the work : the title, "Les profils des dômes", is an extract from Lautreamont's Maldoror. Then the listener can go to a bookshop and try to find connections if he cares. The thing I would like to get is making people discovering entire worlds thanks to a first work. All artistic works are linked by threads. We just need patience and investigations to discover this point and new horizons. Hope "Les profils des dômes" will be able to welcome listeners into this kind of atmosphere.

The most accessible songs like "Les banlieues belges" or "Les voûtes immenses" have a kind of timeless quality, working upon French tradition, where other songs are on the verge of free music. Is there a concept uniting these different approach? Why did you want a female voice for "Les banlieues belges"?

Notion of concept is a bit excessive. It just seems to be a certain idea of our link to music on these days. The thing is to drive in the idea that an improvised-unmelodic track will seem more unmelodic next to a classical song (prefer to use "classical" than "accessible"), and vice-versa. This result is, furthermore, something I wanted to propose: I'm writing "classical" songs and also like to prepare bases of tracks that'll be improvised. The mix of these two kind of musical results is interesting, on different ways. For me, a record can propose this idea of two approaches. I hope people is ok too, listening to "Les profils".

About "Les banlieues belges", the song has been written for Marine. I thought, two years ago, to dedicate a full album to Marine, on which she would have sing 10 or 11 songs, and submit the idea to Radio Khartoum's Alexander Bailey. But we lost the idea. Furthermore, "Les banlieues belges" sounds better with her voice, and the intention she gives.

Gypsophile is a very original mixture of music, visual arts and poetry. How is it born? Where did you first get the inspiration?

Thanks a lot, first... I really don't know, here, what to answer... I could make you the same answer than models answering about their beauty : o it's so natural, you know... I'm just fresh when I wake up.

Michael Korchia (Watoo Watoo) has recalled with us your beginnings, telling us that you used to be a very shy guy. What has changed in all this time? Was music ever a mean to evade your shyness?

Michael must be the only one who can remember my "beginnings"... I think this shy side of me has something to see with politeness... I'm not shy at all, but, as I'm not so often in good company with others, I prefer to let them talk about my incredible shyness... If it can reassures them, everyone is happy. (I'm not talking, here, about Michael, of course).

Each of your album is a big step forward, but there is always something showing the same origin and belonging of the tunes. Is anything changed in your musical language in respect to your beginnings? Do you think you have developed some aspects of your art more than others?

Yes, things has changed. Listening to "Les profils" after "Apart in Alep", the ep I made in 1997 for Elefant records, I don't think someone could find that this is the same person who wrote the all songs.
About origin, I think you can't forget the first steps you made in creation. In 1997, for example, I listened to pure pop or noisy bands all time, next to bossa's fathers. I think, then, I was influenced by these forms of music and my compositions suffocate under those influences.
With time, I learnt several things thanks to gigs, recording séances, books on musical theories... I learnt to re-think my approach of my instruments, my way to compose by always refusing gesture that begin to come naturally. Refusing music you listen and like as an influence in your own music is, too, really important I think.

If I developed an aspect of my music more than another is certainly my perception of improvisation. For three years now, we're choosing to propose, in lives, the songs of the records, but in a de-structured form. The idea is to take the heart of the song, like jazzmen do with standards, and to develop the all thing thanks to improvisation, silences and breaks. Free music really helped me. During months, I listened to every kind of improvised music (there's a lot of bad and pompous records in it, something like 75 per cent), reading books on the theme and testimony of great figures of the domain. The first result is that, I think we're getting more and more pleasure each time we play, now. This is a personal result, I do not talk about the musical aspect that could find out the listener.

What's your judgement today on your earlier works. What do you think today of Unaneelmi or De loin, les choses, for example?

Really bad if we talk about "Apart in Alep" (except for the song called Leaving with Liv), more or less acceptable for Unaneelmi and gypsophile versus Shop, quite good in the bossa melancholic pop touch for Songs of a thousand nights. I really like a lot De loin, les choses, always on these days. This is the album where the music we're playing today appears, begin to birth. I'd like to say that "Eloquence des fatigués" is a perfect album, but songs like "Les femmes à barbe" and "Qu'est-ce que je deviens ? " are working for its imperfection.

Your most recent works seems to look upon free jazz and musique concrete from a distance, taking something from those distant worlds, taking some fortuitious elements and interactions with the ambience. Do you have interests in those styles?

Yes, I listen to contemporary music : Morton Feldman, a composer I really appreciate, or Berio's more calm pieces. Some piano parts of Cage too, Ligeti and the Singcircle period Stauckhausen.
My opinion about musique concrete, if you talk about composers like Pierre Henry or the band of Radio France searchers, is not really good talking under a musical approach.

About the distant worlds, I would say this is an error.Sun ra heard poetry from earth, and not from the skys . About free jazz, this provoke in me a more intense pleasure. Great figures of the thing are, for me, guys like Jimmy Lyons, Steve Lacy, Jacques Coursil - I really think a lot about this Creole trumpet was Coursil when we record "Les profils des dômes", always this idea of placing a note here and not there, superpositions and silences of one of the more ignored musician of this band of free musicians recording for free for Byg or ESP. Marzette Watts, too, Sonny Simmons and Sunny Murray, I saw a year ago in Paris, in front of 26 persons. A guy of 2 meters high, smiling to everyone, natural, sitting behind drums in a simple mood. I thought, then, that he was maybe the last one to keep alive this free and natural side of jazz, musician = human. So far from those bad musicians calling their music "jazz" and playing everywhere for bankclerks out of the office or young snobs smoking Japanese cigarettes.

What is the aspect that fascinates you the most in the act of composing and performing music?

I can't tell... I don't think an honest "artist" could tell you he is fascinated by the act of composing. Composing can be a mistery for a guy that do not compose, like speacking 12 languages for a guy that speack only one. A composer do not have to search to explain.

The thing that fascinates me in the act of performing, is to be able to play in front of girls and boys I do not know nothing about, first, and, second, and by definition, to do not wait applauses from them. They stay, and it's enough.

What your favourite musicians in the present scene? And what is the (past)musical period you most often look at?

I like a lot Jim O'rourke on most of his "melodic" albums, Mark Hollis... In indiepop, I really like to listen to old stuff I listened ten years ago like Ride, My bloody Valentine, PJ Harvey. Not so much new things. An English guy called Cavil get out a really good pop album last year on a French label called Acetone.

The past musical period I often look at is the first free jazz period I mentioned upon.
The guys I listen the more are Eric Dolphy, and john Coltrane ("Alabama" at the top of the palmares).

You have set up you own label to publish this work. Why? How will the label operate and what is the aim of Lenka Lente?

To do not have to do concessions, with "Les profils des dômes". No label could have say yes to this kind of work, some labels, by the way, told us "No'possible", very good, very personal, but no'possible".
I do not know yet if Gypsophile will, now, get out all its productions on Lenka lente. The thing I know is I would love to produce others artists playing unwedged music, if they propose it. The aim would be to propose another music, mix between the two things we talked about : improvisation and composition. And to propose the cds at a low price.
Everyone wants to know the aim of the label will have to read the Czech author L. Skvorecky; a novel of this author is talking about a girl, Lenka, speed liberated insolent girl. The music the label wants to produce must be this Lenka in music, but "lente", Lenka pianissima.

Fabio, Salvatore

Links:

Gypsophile Website: www.gypsophile.com
Gypsophile@indiepop.it: bands/gypsophile.htm