Blending absurd cinema, dark humor, and fearless experimentation, Le Mâl à Tress crafts a wildly unconventional sonic universe, where storytelling, chaos, and raw emotion collide through a deeply personal solo vision.
1. Le
Mâl à Tress is such an unconventional project — when did you decide to fully
embrace this limitless creative freedom?
"...such
an atypical project..." : the best compliment I could receive. Thank you!
It's been a little over a year now since I created this solo project. I think a
slight midlife crisis helped me get started :) I recorded bands, mixed and
arranged their songs, composed their piano or orchestral parts, did the sound
for their concerts… I was happy to have my touch here and there, even my name
on albums, in the acknowledgments… I've been doing this for over 20 years, but
why not give myself all this energy, all this time? Just for me? And
ultimately, what would MY music sound like? Not just a little bit of other
people's music… It all started with this thought, at a time in my life when I
think I need to think about myself… for once :):)
2. Your
music blends dark humor, absurdity, and deeply emotional moments. How do you
balance irony with genuine sincerity?
The balance
ultimately respects the dialogue, the texts... In CHÂTTE, I have the little cat
die, and so I created a moving section with a lovely piano and background
choirs... to emphasize the sadness for this little animal gone too soon... But
what is absurd and shamefully funny is the cause of this little cat's death...
hehehehe...
3. Each
track feels like a “sound short film.” Do you approach your compositions with a
narrative or storyline in mind from the start?
I start
with a film dialogue, the most absurd, funny, or shocking one possible. From
this, I have the "song" and the narration. All I have to do is
accentuate everything by adding other film dialogues and thus create
combinations for a new, unique, and even more absurd dialogue. I then build the
first "voice" tracks with these sampled dialogues, and once finished,
I have my story told, and I imagine the music that could highlight the
absurdity and very dark humor of these voices. I mainly choose a very dark rock
style, as dark as the humor used and the shocking passages.
4. As a
solo artist handling everything yourself, does total independence feel more
freeing or sometimes challenging?
I feel so
much freer!! Because there are no rules to follow, complete freedom of
expression. I can fully explore my "musical humor," discover myself
through music, and listen to myself evolve from song to song. As for the
challenge, it's about expressing myself as best I can with what I have. My
first song, MUzeZETTE, was THE ultimate challenge: composing a piece from start
to finish, something I'd only ever done in small parts before.
5. Does
your background as a pianist still shape your compositions, even in your most
experimental and chaotic passages?
Absolutely!
I compose my ideas on the piano and search for the best possible sounds
depending on the passage I'm working on. If I'm playing chords on the piano, I
choose a powerful organ sound, and if I'm playing a rhythmic riff, I'll choose
a rhythm guitar sound. I record everything using a digital piano that controls
all kinds of sound libraries. I search for and find all my ideas on the piano
because it's the instrument I'm most comfortable with, both musically and as a
tool, while others use a mouse. I need to feel the intensity, the softness, or
the power of a passage, and the piano remains the instrument that allows me to
play the nuances of touch most closely, which makes the playing feel natural.
6. Tracks
like BERçEUSE, CHâTTE, and MUzeZETTE really stand out. Can you share the ideas
or stories behind them?
I don't
know if it's a good idea, but here goes!....hehehe...
MUzeZETTE:
the first track that invites you to discover my world. I want it to be musical,
fun, but also surprising and unsettling. I had to set the tone right away, so I
decided to set to music the line from the fantastic Julianne Moore in The Big
Lebowski: "My art impresses a lot because of its vaginal side." The
great Jeff Bridges, in this scene, makes me laugh so much with his reaction
when he hears the word "zézette," which gave me the title MUzeZETTE,
a contraction of a musette (3/4 time) and...well...zézette....
CHÂTTE is
my third track: When I heard Sandrine Kiberlain's question in the film Les
Infidèles: "Do you want my little pussy?" I thought it would be funny
to talk about the animal. To create a misunderstanding, I then added Thierry
Lermitte's line "Just a second, I'm almost there" from the film *Le
Père Noël est une ordure* (Santa Claus is a bastard), imagining he was taking
care of the cat and not the... well... you know what I mean...) of Sandrine
Kiberlain. I then added cat meows and a lovely piano passage in memory of this
little creature who didn't survive...
LULLABY: my
last and most...trashy... The famous line "I want the Super
Nintendo!" from the film *Les 3 Frères* (The Three Brothers) reminds me of
capricious, unbearable children... but they're just children... why are they
like that? So I decided to give a (very trashy) reason from the film *Polisse*,
with Joey Starr. The child can't fall asleep because social services have
forbidden his mother from "taking care of him" to help him fall
asleep.... A very shocking scene in the film, embodied by Audrey Lamy in the
role of the unfit mother, which she plays, in my opinion, to perfection. This
lullaby sounds like a drill, hence the addition of a cedilla for the sake of
confusion....and yet another contraction that ultimately makes these words,
these titles, unique.
7. Absurdity
and burlesque play a central role in your work. What are your main influences,
musically or cinematically?
I prefer
cinematic films. I like directors like David Lynch (bizarre, dark, mysterious),
Quentin Dupieux (funny, absurd), and Gaspar Noé (shocking, disturbing) because
they've all managed to surprise me, to present a certain originality… even if I
would have liked to be surprised by less harsh atmospheres… Musically, that's
what I want to offer: originality, and what better way than through the absurd,
or a shocking line when you least expect it… Contrast also surprises, in my
opinion; I like to go from gentle passages to very intense ones to surprise… I
like to surprise and to surprise myself… I'm a very easy audience with myself,
and some songs still surprise me and always make me laugh! Exactly what
I look for in cinema.
8. Your
second project Dispose feels more assertive. How does it differ from your debut
EP Ose in terms of vision and sound?
The first
EP, "Ose" (Dare). I dared to release my first three tracks, just as I
dared to present my oh-so-atypical world :) Now that I have a little
experience, a process for creating, mixing, distributing, etc., I'm going to
continue creating with more experience, more defined tastes, and new sounds at
my disposal. My vision is becoming clearer, but above all, it's confirmed: I
feel good in this world that I still have to explore in many ways. I want it to
evoke a reaction, whether people like it or not. That's my success: to make an
impact, to surprise, to astonish, but also to make people laugh. I want to keep
making myself laugh, especially! And to nod my head when I listen to a track. I
will always dare to shock... in short... I believe that in terms of sound and
vision, I will continue to grow while staying true to myself. I never know what
I'm getting into until I discover new movie dialogues and the connections they
make in my brain. It's a surprise every time. I stumbled upon a video of a
woman demonstrating the practice of fisting... and my immediate reaction was:
this is amazing!! So the idea was born to create a track with lots of big
breaks like cracks, and this track will be called: FISSTURE, a contraction of
fissure and... always that contraction...
9. You
embrace imperfections as part of your identity. Do you think modern music
sometimes lacks that raw, human element?
What's
important to me is the message. Even if mine aren't, because they're pretty
silly and absurd. On a human level, I think we all try to outdo each other and
compare ourselves. Even when mixing, many people use a reference track… not me…
my reference is my own taste for harmonic and frequency balance. My way of
composing is the way I like it, so I don't really have any professional codes
or experience. My tracks are therefore probably clumsy in many ways, and I
accept that, telling myself I'll do better next time. Would I have liked those
vocals less loud in this section? A bit of reverb on that cymbal? Oh well,
never mind, I don't want to redo everything, I just go for it. Even though I'm
very demanding of myself, I've learned that perfection is 90%. Also, my life,
my mistakes, are largely a series of missteps. The reason for my stage name, Le
Mâl à Tress (The Evil with Braids): yet another contraction of
"Maladresse" (clumsiness) and a male with braids (I have long hair)
who plays the Evil (of metal) with shocking dialogue. But what's with me and
contractions??!!! I'll talk to my therapist about it :)
10. Le
Mâl à Tress is truly one of a kind — what can listeners expect next: even more
chaos, or a completely new direction?
Laugh more
with music! Once you grasp the concept, you wonder... what kind of nonsense
will he come up with next? What movie dialogue will he parody next? Trashy? Not
trashy? Silly, funny, or disgusting? Ultimately, the music is just a
soundtrack, a support for the crazy ideas I have in my head and want to share
with you again and again: a good laugh with dark humor that I find hilarious! And
if you get the movie references, even better!
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