Interview: Anoraak

The longest distance collaboration yet with Mezzic (alas, not as famous as Give Up) brings Singapore’s own Cindy into the mix, relaying her questions to France’s Anoraak. Enjoy the interview after a quick note on Anoraak.

Anoraak, aka Frederic Riviere and part of the Valerie collective, associates himself to the sun and the sea, something quite natural to do when growing up in Southern France. Now with Nightdrive With You EP honing in on memories of the south and transforming them into lush sonic landscapes rippling through people with the sole goal of his music “so long as it moves you.” With his last video, shot with eight cameras and in 360°, “Above Your Head”, he easily achieves that.

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[Cindy] You first garnered attention on the music blogosphere with the very romantic ‘Nightdrive With You’. What has changed since then?

Nothing really changed, just evolved. Nightdrive With You came as an EP, and is a collection of works made on a 3 years period. At this time i had just a computer and a guitar but for the album, i wanted to record in a proper sudio with real instruments. And the album has been composed on a little period.

Your debut album ‘Wherever The Sun Sets’ is filled with warm summery tracks that make me feel like going on a holiday when I listen to it. Were you intentionally providing a holiday for us when we listen?

TOTALLY ;D Seriously, i love to think about sun, palm trees, sand and summer, so i guess it’s showing in my music. I grew up as a kid in the sunny south of France and i had to move North later, in a way i’m sun-frustrated, so i need to make a music that feels like sun and holidays. 

Apart from your original work, your remixes are really good too. My favourite one of yours is Xinobi – Day Off. What is your current favourite remixes?

If you talk about my remixes, by now it’s: Siobhan Wilson –  Getting Me Down (Anoraak Rework). My fav of the moment is : Uniforms -1020 Tickery Lane (Eumig & Chinon Remix)

I’m sure your fans all know that you love the beach, sunsets, summer and driving on highways – be it in the summer or at night. Out of all the places you’ve travelled to, where have you seen the most beautiful beaches and sunsets? What’s your perfect idea of a holiday and what were holidays like for you when you were a kid?

All the beaches are beautiful for me, ahah! The most crazy sunset i’ve seen so far was in San Francisco. When i was a kid, my holidays were taking place on the french Mediteranean sea, or on the south west coast, and i wish i could spend my time like that ahah!

How do your lyrics come about? Are they something that comes easily?

It must sound weird for native Americans or English people, but yes, the lyrics comes naturally in English. It’s a question of culture, i’ve been listening 99% to US and UK bands in my life, so i grew up with it and i don’t really know how to write a song in French. Maybe in the future 🙂

Who is your closest peer in the music scene you’re in? Who has helped you the most music-wise?

I think it’s my friend College. He’s definitely the one who made me much more confident about my music. Before meeting him, my music was known by my TV, my plants, my bed and a couple of randoms thanks to Myspace. That being said, we don’t really make the same kind of music, i’m coming from the indie-rock scene, he’s coming from the techno scene, but we have a part of culture in common, about movies and tv.

Which current, up-and-coming artist are you excited about?

I listen to many different musics, so i can’t talk about a specific current, but many people are amazing, i’m thinking about Michael Cassette, Ariel Pink, Matt Van Shie, Pacific!, ….

You have sort of developed a signature sound. Are there any sounds you want to experiment with for future material?

Hard to say right now… maybe setting up a pure rock band (this would be more a back to roots), or making soundtracks in collab with someone… Possibilities are endless!

Where is your favourite place that you’ve performed and where is the worst? Is there somewhere you would love to perform, but haven’t?

There is no worst, maybe the best would be my first gig in NYC, because it was my first time ever in the USA, i came to play my music, the place was awesome and it was packed! I’d love to perform in Japan, i’ve never been there.

There’s a really catchy song that you seem to always play on your live shows that isn’t on the album. What is it called? We all would like to know!

AH! This song has actually been recorded, and should become a bonus track at some point. The name to it is “For A Lifetime”. You should check some recent videos, the live set has changed a lot, we are now 3 on stage, it’s really cool 🙂

Will there be an official release of it?

As i said, it should come later as a bonus track but i can’t say more. It’s not on the album because you need to make choices with an album; i wanted it to be a real old fashioned LP, the one you put in your player and you listen to it from A to Z, not randomly in a playlist of 12000 songs ;D I know it’s pretty stupid at a time where every single person has an iPod on random play, but it’s a choice. And i love this track, but it did not have a proper place in the album. But it’s gonna but an awesome bonus track!

Thank you so much!

thank YOU!