Q & A. ABOUT THE COMPOSITIONAL PROCESS

 

Do you have a particular compositional process that is a starting point for each album or do you approach each one differently? 

My compositional method is a form of controlled improvisation. At the start of a recording session, I choose one of my favorite instruments and browse through its sound bank, usually without any preconceived ideas. The starting point for the first track will therefore be the inspiration I get from a preset, the intuition of its creative potential here and now. I record a first track, choosing a particular key and a set of rules, for example in terms of rhythm, repetition, melodic pattern, or something else. On this first layer, I choose a new instrument or different sounds from the same instrument to start recording a second track. The complementarity of sounds and textures is essential here. Then I do the same again for a third track, a fourth, and so on. In this overdubbing process, I ultimately reproduce what we used to do in Lightwave in our studio sessions or concerts, where everyone played while listening to the others, trying to provide a counterpoint, a complement, a punctuation, and sometimes also introducing a climatic change to move the piece forward. Playing in a group taught me to think about the big picture rather than my personal contribution, so it was the opposite of filling in or ego-driven one-upmanship. In fact, very often, when listening back to a Lightwave recording, Christoph and I were, and sometimes still are, unable to tell who did what: the result was coherent, organic, and structured music, and not the juxtaposition of disparate tracks. So it's a bit the same principle that I apply to the multitrack recording process of my solo music. Each track must make sense, bring something to the previous ones: it must emphasize, complement, but not confuse or disrupt. It must have a purpose and meaning, and not be a gratuitous addition.

When we recorded live, on Revox or DAT, this co-composition work had to be done in the moment. An untimely sound or phrase would ruin the entire recording: we had to start all over again, with no guarantee of recapturing the same feeling. Cités analogues and Nachtmusik were recorded under these conditions, which is why they are so magical. When we were able to equip ourselves with the wonderful Alesis ADAT multi-track digital recorders, we each had our own stereo tracks, sometimes for each keyboard, so it was possible to make corrections afterwards.

Today, a DAW offers this flexibility, both for a band and for a solo musician. This is why, after recording the basic tracks, the editing stage follows, which is in fact the composition stage itself, where the different parts come together to form a coherent whole. I listen to what I have recorded several times, I make a first mix, and I delete, aerate, and declutter the tracks, one after the other. This stage allows the music to “breathe,” weaving sounds into silence, giving them depth and space. It's a very intuitive process. I listen with an open mind and know that I need to delete this note or pattern at this moment. It's a split-second decision, and when I listen back, I almost never restore what I've deleted. There's another aspect to this editing work: its visual dimension. The arrangement window allows me to see the topography of the MIDI notes, instrument by instrument, on the layered tracks. It's like a map, but also a form of abstract art, where the spatial distribution of notes creates visual rhythms, geometric patterns, and labyrinthine intertwining. The final composition is the result of this micro-work of spatialized calligraphy in the DAW's arrangement window.

Next comes the fine tuning of levels, effects, spatialization, and sometimes modifying the tempo of the piece to slow it down and create completely different atmospheres, through time stretching, which completely reconfigures the composition and its harmonic landscapes.

When the mix seems stable, I export the audio file and let it rest for a while before listening to it again the next day. At this stage, I often go back to the multitrack recording to correct levels, rebalance the mix, calibrate differently effects, or, in some cases, further refine the instrumental tracks.

 

Originally published in AUDION MAGAZINE #83, August 2025.

Interview by Andy Garibaldi. 

 

Q & A. ALBUMS TYPICAL OF MY STYLE?

For anyone who may not know your music, bearing in mind how much you have released, what albums would you choose to say to someone that this is typical of your styles, and why?

It's always difficult, and undoubtedly presumptuous, to try to define one's musical style. In general, it's up to the listeners to do that, perhaps in the form of album reviews. If I had to venture an answer, I would say that there are a few common features throughout my work. First, I like fairly vast, reverberant sound spaces, with the sound moving across the stereo field and additional effects such as certain delays. Creating space and depth for my music is usually the first step in my composition process. Second, I like fairly contrasting sound palettes, with an experimental component, whether it's pure synthesis or sampled instrument libraries. Added to this is the primacy of climates and textures, which I prefer to more conventional compositional patterns, such as the sequence-polyphony-lead format. 

This primacy of moods and climates leads to a somewhat abstract and experimental dimension that can sometimes veer toward atonality or controlled dissonance, or, conversely, toward a refined and atmospheric minimalism. For the past two years, I have also been moving towards hybrid forms of music, combining purely electronic sounds with acoustic instrument sounds from sampled orchestral libraries. I am not trying to create the illusion of classical instrumentalists, nor am I moving in the direction of “classical” cinematic music based on orchestrations of strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion.  Other composers do this very well, and I don't have the skills to go down that path. But I find it fascinating to be able to integrate certain acoustic instrument tracks into electronic environments and process them with different effects to create original textures and sound colors. As a lifelong lover of classical music, and contemporary music in particular, I find it fascinating to use these instrument banks in an experimental, non-realistic way.

On my blog, I have tried to offer my listeners some guidance to help them find their way around my music. There are four main categories: space music, post-Eno-style ambient, and abstract-experimental. These are not rigid categories, but musical directions that can overlap. For me, it's a way of gaining some perspective on my musical production over time. 

So if I had to choose a few representative albums, let's see... For Brian Eno-style ambient soundscapes: Ambient Mapping II, Music for Sound Installation I and II, Par vents et marées (album in collaboration with Andrew Heath). For atmospheric classical... Apeiron, Music for Slow Motion Dance... For space music: Cassiopeia, Orpheus, Close Encounter... 

 

For more abstract ambient: Sphaera Armillaris, Music for Art Gallery I, Sound Painting I and II. But I really think that each of my albums weaves these different threads together, in different proportions.

 

Originally published in AUDION MAGAZINE #83, August 2025.

Interview by Andy Garibaldi. 

 

Q & A. STARTING A SOLO CAREER

 

Once you decided on a solo career, what influenced the music on your first few albums, and was there a particular aspect of your music that you wanted to convey?

I turned to virtual synthesizers fairly early on, particularly Native Instruments' Reaktor, to develop new sound banks and build a library of textures and moods that could be reused in Lightwave's music. Then Logic Audio allowed me to create my first multitrack demos in my home studio environment, with a lightweight and flexible setup compared to the recording equipment we had at the Lightwave studio. This also gave me greater freedom for my musical work, since I could activate my setup at any time without having to travel to Christoph's place in Argenteuil. But I think the most important step was starting to record with Ableton Live. The philosophy of this DAW suited me perfectly. I could use it to launch and mix live the sound textures I had recorded over time, as well as use it more conventionally as a multitrack MIDI recorder to build new compositions. The modules developed for MAX also offered me a wide range of unconventional and experimental instruments and effects.

The idea of producing my music solo, under my own name, came naturally. It was a new way of working, different from the Lightwave experience. Unlike Lightwave, I was now on my own, in a completely virtual studio, since our hardware instruments remained at Christoph's place. No more cables, no more mixing desk, no more effects, everything was in the form of plugins, connected to a DAW. Another difference was the choice to make Bandcamp my distribution platform, which made me completely autonomous in the production of my music, in all its stages, including artwork, liner notes, sales, and promotion.

This led me to develop and evolve my musical personality, with both immense freedom and a restriction of possible choices, due to the style of music I like to listen to and create, but also to my technical and pianistic limitations. Every musician has the qualities of their flaws, as they say.  This solo adventure is still a space for me to learn, mature, and evolve. I never wanted to be confined to a particular style, even though it's probably easier to build a long term audience that way. It's been three years since I started releasing my music on Bandcamp, and I think I've progressed in different directions, deepening and broadening my musical personality, and going in directions that are quite new and at the same time logical if you look at my evolution since the 1980s.

 

Originally published in AUDION MAGAZINE #83, August 2025.

Interview by Andy Garibaldi. 

 

PENALTY FOR SUSPICIOUS STREAMING ACTIVITY #UPDATE.

 Last August, Tunecore, my distributor on streaming platforms, accused me of streaming fraud and boosting the streams of one of my songs on Spotify with a bot-driven playlist.

The penalty was the removal of the entire album containing this song from ALL platforms and a fine of 10 euros.

I had spotted these abnormal streams last May on a clearly illegal and artificial playlist and had myself reported this anomaly to Tunecore.

I strongly protested against the penalty imposed by Tunecore, which I considered unfair and arbitrary.

My emails went unanswered for two months.

I considered removing all my music from the platforms, fearing that any track of mine would once again be included in automated playlists without my knowledge and that I would be fined.

I have no illusions about my financial earnings with Spotify, but to actually lose money!

Last night, I received a mail from Tunecore, acknowledging their mistake and my good faith, refunding the penalty imposed, and committing to put the entire deleted album back online.

So be it.

While I appreciate Tunecore's move, which took my complaints into account and reached a fair decision, I realize how vulnerable independent musicians are compared to multinationals such as Spotify, Tunecore, and others, where everything is now governed by algorithms and automated. We are also at the mercy of unscrupulous operators who lure us with promises of exponential growth in our streams and followers in exchange for payment, and who do not hesitate to include our tracks in playlists controlled by bot farms without our consent...

All things considered, it would have been more sensible for Tunecore to conduct a minimal investigation into the situation before punishing me brutally and without recourse...

I know that dozens (hundreds?) of musicians and bands have found themselves in my situation...

I conclude that one should never hesitate to protest vigorously and assert one's rights.

Q & A. THE END OF LIGHTWAVE?

 

                            Lightwave studio in Argenteuil

 

What led to the end of Lightwave and your decision to go solo ?

Lightwave isn't over! I would rather describe our status as a creative break and a step back. I am still in close contact with Christoph, and we are both committed to our musical adventure and its longevity. This break is partly due to Christoph's move, as he is now based far from Paris, which means we can no longer work together as we did in our studio in Argenteuil. Christoph has undertaken the enormous task of cataloguing, indexing, and digitizing our studio recordings and some live recordings from the band's early days. There are hours and hours of music related to some of our albums, but also a great deal of studio improvisations, either as a duo or with Jacques Derégnaucourt and Paul Haslinger, among others. There is some fascinating material, corresponding to different moments in our career, as well as different configurations of our equipment, from analog to MIDI synths, then to virtual instruments. We are listening back and indexing, identifying passages that could serve as the basis for new compositions, or sometimes be released as they are. Christoph is also very involved in developing new sound banks and textures that he shares with me, and we have also started creating new tracks for a future Lightwave project.

 

Lightwave in concert at B-Wave Festival (Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, 2016)

I would also say that our creative hiatus can be explained by the profound changes that the music world has undergone since the late 1980s. All the musicians of our generation have experienced these successive shocks and have coped with them to varying degrees. For an underground band like Lightwave, located in a musical niche, we had to face the disappearance of certain labels, our music publisher, Métisse Music, as well as the rise of digital platforms, streaming, and downloading. We had to rethink everything: music distribution, music publishing, promotion, and our presence on social media.  We consider our “golden age” to have been the period when we released albums on Hearts of Space/Fathom, then on Radio France's Signatures label, where we were supported by professional distribution and advertising networks. We have continued to exist quietly, under the radar, thanks to Horizon Musics' alternative distribution for three of our albums, our Bandcamp page, and more recently the release of Cités Analogues on Bureau B.

 

Originally published in AUDION MAGAZINE #83, August 2025.

Interview by Andy Garibaldi. 

 

Q & A. ABOUT LIGHTWAVE "CONCEPT ALBUMS"

 

Several of Lightwave studio albums are inspired by particular subjects around which the tracks revolve—please tell us more about the compositional nature of these albums. 

Choosing a concept, album title, and song titles is an important moment in our creative path. This step usually came at a time when we already had a certain amount of material recorded: we had to make a selection, think about the sequence of tracks, in short, build an artistic project. The concept helped us in this editorial process. We followed different threads.  Tycho Brahe,  Mundus Subterraneus,  and  Lowell  are albums inspired by figures who were both important and somewhat marginal in the history of science, and they allowed us to escape certain clichés of space music or dark ambient. 

 

 In the same vein,  Bleue comme une orange  is a reference to the French poet Paul Eluard and led us to explore the world of colors, while  Caryotype was inspired by the completion of the human genome map and connected us to the most contemporary science.  Each of the titles of our albums (and our tracks) therefore plays an important role in building the atmosphere of our music and its identity, and the concept naturally inspires the artwork, which is the visual gateway to the album. This was the heyday of Lightwave, when we were lucky enough to see our music released on CD on Fathom/Hearts of Space, then on Radio France's Signatures label, with international distribution. We also had a publishing contract with Métisse Music, which gave us some visibility on radio and supported us in our most ambitious concert projects, in Oberhausen and in the Choranche caves in the Vercors massif.

An amusing detail: I discovered by chance that a track from Mundus Subterraneus, De Motu Pendulorum, had been sampled, or rather used in its entirety as a background layer, on the album Boniche Dub by Bill Laswell and Lili Boniche (1998) (link to the track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2QflrNImEk&ab_channel=SalmaDahab). Obviously, we weren't contacted and weren't asked for permission! And of course, we were not credited! We were flattered that Bill Laswell had spotted our music, but rather than asking him for damages, we would have liked him to give our career a little boost... We would have had to take legal action to assert our rights, but we were dissuaded from doing so because of the likely costs involved...

 

Originally published in AUDION MAGAZINE #83, August 2025.

Interview by Andy Garibaldi. 

 

Q & A. ABOUT "CITES ANALOGUES"

Please tell us about the background to "Cités analogues"  and what musical direction it represented 

Cités analogues (1988) was an important milestone for Lightwave. First, because it was our first album project after Serge's departure: it was a stage where Christoph and I had to rethink our working methods as well as the band's roadmap, and simply prove to ourselves that Lightwave could exist without Serge. Secondly, because  Cités analogues  was constructed as a “concept album”, in the form of two continuous suites that occupied both sides of an audio cassette. Each mood, each track was worked on independently, then integrated into a continuum with crossfades. The two sequenced tracks, “Le Parvis” and “Cités analogues,” are a good example of the new balance and creative complementarity between Christoph and me. Christoph was in charge of the rhythms and polyphonic pads, while I was in charge of the lead lines, played live with my RSF modular. “Cités analogues” was thus a kind of demo or showcase of the musical directions we thought we were heading in, a sonic calling card bringing together our expertise and interests, from fairly heavy rhythms or Tangerine Dream-style sounds to ethereal Brian Eno-style atmospheres, via more electroacoustic passages and magnetic tape manipulations.

Over the years,  Cités analogues has become a “cult album,” albeit a very underground one, of course. The audio cassettes, distributed through various alternative mail order networks (notably Ultima Thulé, if my memory serves me correctly), were followed by various unauthorized uploads to digital platforms such as YouTube.

We were surprised to be contacted in May 2023 by a large American agency specializing in samples clearance commissioned by a fairly well-known rap group, who wanted to use a loop from  Cités analogues on one of their tracks. We received this track, which we found quite sophisticated in its genre, and indeed the Lightwave loop created a rather special mood.  The discussions went quite far, to the point of a licensing agreement that granted us a cash payment of $2,500, 30% of the song's publishing rights, etc. The musicians had probably found our music on YouTube... Unfortunately, the deal didn't go through, apparently because of a clash between the rap duo and their label.

This interest in Cités analogues encouraged Christoph to remaster the original Revox tapes and produce a digital version with significantly improved sound quality. On Alan Freeman's advice, we contacted Bureau B to submit this new master, which we thought would fit well into their catalog of reissues of electronic music from the Berlin School in the broadest sense. And we were pleasantly surprised to see the project accepted: the album was released with new artwork in early 2025, in digital, CD, and vinyl formats!

We were surprised by the very positive reviews from various webzines and blogs: our musical approach was fully understood, and forty years after the cassette's release, Cités analogues was still hailed as “avant-garde” and characteristic of a certain French electronic touch!

 

Originally published in AUDION MAGAZINE #83, August 2025.

Interview by Andy Garibaldi.