Aisémusic had the pleasure of meeting up-and-coming French electro-synth duo ‘Holy Two’ over a cup of coffee in Lyon earlier this february.
This young and promising duo is only bound to get a bigger name in the music business, and we invite you to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Enjoy your read!
Aisémusic: How did you guys meet, and how did Holy Two come to be?
Elodie: We met in architecture school, actually Hadrien only arrived last year. And when we met, we didn’t even know that we each were into making music.
Hadrien: Yeah, exactly, so we thought, why not make music together!
Elodie: I played the cello, and Hadrien the guitar.
Hadrien: Yeah, we both have a background in classical music, so we thought working together could be interesting! And Elo, you never really sang before.
Elodie: Yeah, so at first we dedicated quite a lot of time to practicing our acoustics.
Hadrien: After that we started working with synthesizers. We gradually bought more and more equipment, and the rest came quite naturally.
Aisémusic: Hadrien, how would you describe Elodie?
Hadrien: So, how would I describe Elodie? In Holy Two, as in real life, it’s the feminine touch, the softness…. Yeah it’s the feminine side. There are moments, like in Wild Nights for example, where there’s a very fast flow that contrasts well with that kind of softness. In fact, it’s softness and strength at the same time! Anyway, I don’t know if I’m being very clear…
Aisémusic: Same question for you Elodie.
Elodie: For Hadrien, it’s his very masculine side (laughs). No, Hadrien, for me, it’s… (tries to find the words). Actually, it’s that sometimes he completely bugs out and goes into his own trips that I can’t really follow. But in the end, it creates crazy things and afterwards we can channel that stuff into making cool things.
Aisémusic: Can you tell us about your musical background and influences?
Hadrien: Well I grew up in an environment surrounded by rock, blues, etc… I was more into classical at first, but I’ve really oriented myself in another thing with a lot more vigour.
Elodie: I did eleven years of cello, but I never really had too much fun with it. I listened to a lot of pop, so yeah, it’s rue that I enjoy playing the synth a lot more now.
Hadrien: In terms of our influences, we listen to quite a lot of electro, not all of it is very well known. We really get attached to harmonies and tones.
Elodie: It’s true that since we’ve entered the music business, we discover a lot of new emerging bands.
Hadrien: Other than that, definitely Foals, Alt-J, Phoenix.
Elodie: The XX can’t be forgotten either.
Hadrien: Elodie also made me listen to a lot of french music. We get quite attached to the lyrics, and I think that’s something that is reflected in our work.
Elodie: We could maybe try to write something in French one day, that could be a good project.
Aisémusic: You guys are in one of today’s up and coming bands of Lyon. Les Inrocks wrote a great article about you guys, and you’ve also appeared on Le Mouv’. How do you feel about this recognition?
Hadrien: We’re super happy, but it’s true that we don’t really grasp that all the time…
Elodie: We really didn’t see it coming, we’ve been reading Les Inrocks for a while now, and to see ourselves in an issue… It’s so amazing to be supported by people like JD Beauvallet, who has been sending us emails telling us that he wants to back up our project.
Hadrien: Which really motivates us, it allows us to meet other people. It’s so cool that music can work that way, and that really propels us.
Elodie: We’re starting to surround ourselves with people who do video, photography, and that’s all so interesting to us. It’s what we look for in music, that kind of complementarity.
Aisémusic: You experienced a bit of the Parisian music scene, performing at the Trois Baudets two weeks ago. What were your feelings before and after the gig?
Hadrien: It was a pretty atypical gig, because there were a lot of people and quite a few pros in the room.
Elodie: Being on set was great because the audience was really receptive, like nothing we’ve experienced before!
Hadrien: Yeah, we felt a great difference between the Parisian audience and the one from Lyon… I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, like maybe it was just that night.
Elodie: The sound system was also pretty good, so we were able to try out more things.
Hadrien: Either way, before the gig, there was definitely a lot of pressure, but it was a great experience and a great venue. We got a lot of good feedback, from the Mouv’ and Inrocks people who were there.
Aisémusic: You will also be playing at Ninkasi in Lyon on the 23rd of April for the Ricard SA Live Music tour, opening for Stuck in the Sound. How do you feel about that concert? What do you expect out of it?
Hadrien: We’re really stoked for that gig. It all started with a selection process, and although we did not win, it opened a lot of doors for us.
Elodie: It really helped for our visibility, even without having won, the contest was crazy! Being finalists was already pretty awesome.
Hadrien: We’re fans of Stuck too, but I just think that, you know, we’re going to go with the flow, there’s not a lot at stake. If we get to work with a good sound tech, it will definitely a good, chilled show.
Elodie: And we got quite a lot of good feedback from Ricard and other participants. It’s a really cool concept that I love - being able to meet people, to share these moments with them…
Hadrien: It’s a great experience!
Aisémusic: Your clip “Rush” came out last week. It reflects perfectly the delicate and airy ambiance of your music. What approach did you guys take to fuse imagery and music together?
Hadrien: From the very beginning, we’ve always worked a lot with videos.
Elodie: With images too, we have some recurring visuals.
Hadrien: For this video in particular, it’s about meeting someone. It all started when we created an association called Musique de RU, about a year ago, and we meet one guy from KINO session.
Elodie: Someone proposed that we play at this short film festival.
Hadrien: We saw a short that really appealed to us, and it was actually that very video. We contacted Sebastien Armand and proposed that he put our music on top of his images, and he definitely dug the idea. At the end, the video wasn’t actually created for us, but we readapted a bit, and it worked out pretty nicely in the end.
Elodie: Especially since we totally imagined that our music video would be something like that when we saw it. And it’s true that since we’re in architecture school, we touch a lot upon imagery, and we’re often asked to make videos, drawings, photography… So we’re quite receptive on that front. Either way, right now, a group cannot make it without visuals.
Aisémusic: How do you feel you’re evolving personally and musically in regards to the electro scene?
Hadrien: What’s really interesting is that we meet a lot of people in the field, we’ve created a network. And as Elo was saying, being in an architecture school really allows us to develop artistically. There, we work with producers on remixes. We try to contact a lot of people, whether they’re based in France or abroad.
Elodie: We’ve been pitched at Griefjoy. Either way, if you don’t put yourself out there, you won’t get anywhere - at least they know who we are now.
Hadrien: We have a remix of Wild Nights that was done by our friend Victor Mallé, who mixed the album originally, and it really made great results.
Elodie: I think we pissed him off quite a bit too (joking).
Hadrien: He really brought in a great tone to the album.
Elodie: And with his exterior view, since he’s done quite a bit of music himself, he was able to bring something quite particular to the table.
Aisémusic: You guys have started making covers before the album, like the Kavinsky and Woodkid covers, which really allowed you to reaffirm and ground your style within the music sphere.
Hadrien: Yeah exactly, it allowed us to find our place.
Elodie: Yeah, specially since we came from a completely different universe, it really allowed us to find some common ground.
Aisémusic: What are your future projects?
Hadrien: We already have quite a few gigs lined up: Marché Gare, Transbordeur, Ninkasi, some in Bordeaux…
Elodie: It would be great to be able to expand internationally. We’d love to play in Berlin because it’s THE city to play music in. We performed with Coming Soon in Lyon and they talked to us about Berlin. They told us that people are really open about music over there.
Hadrien: We’ve already played in London last December, but it was pretty last minute. It was quite hard to find a place to play, and no one really knew us. But we still felt that it was a completely different culture, and I think Berlin might be a little bit more of what we’re looking for.
Elodie: Also, there are so many emerging bands that are also trying to make it in the business in London, and so most small places are catering to locals first.
Hadrien: Other than that, we’re trying to work on a new album.
Elodie: We’re also working on our live shows, we really want to detach ourselves from recorded albums.
Aisémusic: And to finish, what puts you at ease these days?
Hadrien: A few months ago, I would have said “watching Breaking Band” but that’s over… Nah, but listening to a little Local Natives puts me at ease. Or some Kid Wise!
Elodie: Oh yeah, me too, Kid Wise all the way, I really like what they do!
Hadrien: Yeah it really puts us at ease.
WRITTEN BY AISEMUSIC
TRANSLATED BY NAIMA VOGT