Sebastien Tellier

Sebastien Tellier is an artist whom many would say is indescribable. Singing in English, French and Italian – he is internationally renowned and musically experimental. Born in the early 70s, you can most definitely feel the array of eras shining through his collection of albums. Brought up in a rough suburb of Paris, Mr Tellier has always been a master with music as he grew up through his teens and as he began to produce his own style. BBM’s Frankie Salt talks science, eternal life and the approach in which he has to producing new music. After a tour with Air and collaboration with Mr Oizo, his latest album has been the most challenging, so as he takes to his sofa and grabs the cookies – he closes his eyes and imagines how his music will appear on the piano. A mysterious genius of the music world; Sebastien Tellier is about to set sail to America, Japan, Europe and of course, Australia, expressing his French Pop and fresh Electronica sounds.

Please read the following in a French accent…

Good morning Sebastien. Where are you? Paint me a picture – how are you feeling?
I’m in Paris; it’s a beautiful day, very shiny, very sunny. It seems a good day, yes.

When people listen to your music, tell me where you want them to be? What they should surround themselves with, how they should feel…
Something like a waking dream. When you walk in the street and you see a church, and you go inside the church and it’s completely different than in the street. I try to do that with my music, to change the ambience. When you press play on one of my records you might be in a room but I want people to feel like they’re in a beautiful temple or something like that.

As you were growing up, what made you fall in love with music? Where did you grow up?
My father gave me the love of music, because my father is a very big fan of guitar and music in general, so he wanted me to play guitar. I grew up in a tough suburb of Paris, so for me music was something to be productive with in my bedroom alone with my synthesiser and my guitar.

If you weren’t making your music which you have been doing for so many years, where would you be?
For me it would be a dream to be a scientist, because I like all the sciences, about eternal life and genetics.

Do you believe in eternal life?
I think one day that will be possible. It is hard for me to talk about science because I don’t know the terms. I want to believe in it, for me it’s cool to believe in. Because life is too short to find the truth we don’t have enough time. We need a long time to think and find the truth.

Your new album is a master piece; tell me the formula of creation. How do you begin a tune and what programs/live recordings do you use?
Yes I have always the same process. First I think on my sofa and think about what I want to do and what is the best way to do something good. After I find a good idea I play the piano, and when I play I close my eyes and play like a child, like I don’t know what! Then I just wait to be inspired, to be lucky in fact, and sometimes I find something that fits perfectly with what I want to say. So I open my eyes and look at where my fingers are on the piano and that’s the beginning of the song I write. First I think, after that I look for keys, and after that I work.

Did you discover any major problems with the production of the album?
There was a big problem; this was the hardest album to record. If we talk about just music, the goal for me was to try and create a …between …and it changed. So ok I was creating a song, but songs don’t have to be in the same time. Also it was very difficult to reach that when you are lot of chords and strings it is difficult to control all the little instruments. It was very hard to record, because the music was. The production has to be like the same track very cool and full of ambience. It was really hard to find new ways to speak.

Mr Oizo is one of my favourite producers, how did you come about to work with him?
Yes, Mr Ozio is unique. He is a general genius because sometimes beauty can be in chaos. The rule of Mr Oizo is chaos, not beauty. I love that. His music sounds like the end of the world. At the same time it’s a kind of naivety. The music of Mr Oizo is unique, he is a wonderful guy full of ideas. For sure he is a kind of genius and I love him.

Your latest album, has such an array of different sounding tracks, and I have also watched the videos which are all so different – did you want to make an album that incorporated lots of different songs or was it just how you were feeling at the time?
It’s on purpose; I work a lot to reach that. As I was telling you I come from rough suburb and …exactly the same. So I have the creative need in my heart and in my head, the need to be different and original. It is important to be just me, not someone else. It is possible to feel that with my music in my real life. I don’t like my past, three years ago, I need to be different again and again. I need to move in my head. In general between each album I change as much as possible, so I change everything about me. I change my cars, I change my clothes, for a new life.

What makes you happy?
Watching TV eating cookies.

2012 is going to be a huge year for you, what else can we expect?
I am touring France, US, Europe, Japan, Australia, this will be the tour year.

By Frankie Salt

Check out the BBMLive Spotlight Dance Music Podcast mixed by So Called Scumbags.