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.