Are you a classically trained musician?

Absolutely not. I studied piano when I was very young, but I didn't like music school at all. I just played the songs that I liked on the piano, and learned how to play them, but I didn't like solfège, music theory. I didn't like studying the rules of music. I just wanted to learn everything from scratch.

When you heard something on the radio, you could just go straight to the piano and play it?

No. I'm not a genius (laughs)! I just train to be able to play the songs that I sing, you know.

Do you remember the moment when you knew you wanted to devote your life to music?

It was really late in my life. Five or six years ago. I decided to try my best to be able to live for music. I played music with friends and stuff, but I didn't know at the time it would be my job.

What dream job did you think you'd have, as a child?

I was going to be a veterinarian (laughs)! I still love animals, like my cat, Billy. It's my second passion in life.

In what way, would you say, has using Elektron instruments impacted on your music?

In many ways. Also when I play live. Transcribing what you do in the studio to live shows, using Elektron instruments has completely shattered my idea of what I thought I could use, and I realize that with these machines it is possible to do anything you want! It's like having no limitations in the hardware, you know? It's really nice to be able to work with musical machines, try new things, experiment and jam with myself. I got my Octatrack first. I use it mostly to sample things and be able to destroy the original sample and make it my own. The results were amazing! It was so fast, the way you could work, and that was really a revolution for me. To be able to suddenly find something that you like about a track, and to be able to have just a drone, for instance, or just take a very small sample and use it to play notes. And its ability to slice voices. I use that a lot in my music. I can do something in five seconds that used to take me fifteen, maybe thirty minutes! Really fast.

Was learning to use the Octatrack a walk in the park for you?

Of course not! I was not able to use it as much as I wanted in the beginning, but I watched a lot of tutorials and read the manual a lot. I still have the manual by my side, when I try to do new stuff. But I'm quite a geek, I like to go deep into the philosophy of machines, you know? Elektron has its own philosophy, and it's really nice to just dive into it. I like the fact that it's not easy at first, because it makes you part of a family that really knows and loves using the machines. It's not just, grab a synthesizer, play three notes, push two buttons and you're set. It's not like that.

It's kind of like my all-time favorite books. They're all pretty challenging, and take a while to digest, but they're the ones that stick.

I totally agree. It's the same with music, sometimes you hear something, and it's perhaps a little bit complicated and not as easy listening as you like, but then you listen to it twice, and three times, and you discover things and you feel that you know something that not all people know. It's also nice that when you start to use one Elektron machine, you know that for every other Elektron machine that you use, it's going to be easier. You just want them all!

You've done some beautiful remixes — of La Roux' Cruel Sexuality, among many others — did you meet in person?

No, not at all. I just liked the track and wanted to do something else with it. I just asked my editor — we have the same editor — and he gave me the stems so I could do whatever I want with them.

Which artist would you like to remix next?

Tough question. I like to remix things that are really the opposite of what I do. I'd probably choose someone who's not in my field of expertise, who does something different than what I do, and take it somewhere else. Like, really dark if it's kind of happy pop music, or really raw if it's something very orchestrated.

Who'd you like to do a remix of one of your songs?

Someone who does really underground techno. Or, if I could choose anyone, it would be Larry Levan. I know it's not possible, but he seemed like such a nice guy.

The lush beauty of songs such as No Mercy and Radio Violante makes me wonder: was Analog Keys used for some of that lushness?

I used it for the mixtape I made, Radio Violante. I wanted to have more texture, and a club vibe, so I used the Keys for that. It's just so easy to sequence and make basslines and things like that. I use that quite a lot, but I mostly use the Octatrack. It's so fast to set up, and you can use it to do anything, transform anything and you can write arrangements really quickly, too.

Please tell me about the moment when you first came across an Elektron instrument and decided to get one!

I think I was searching for a sampler, I wanted a hardware one. I have some old samplers, like the Emax II and an S-900, and I wanted to have something that was smaller, that I could bring along with me easily wherever I was, whether in the studio, at home or on the road. I was searching for a machine like that, new enough so I wouldn't have to repair it a lot, or modify it because of memory needs or something, all those problems of the old machines. So I started searching the internet and came across the Octatrack. I watched a lot of Youtube videos to get an idea of what it was able to do, and I just thought it was my savior! I thought it was going to save my life!

Can you tell me a little about your label?

I'm signed on an independent label called Panenka here in France.

Do you believe in the terroir concept, most commonly associated with wine, is also true of music? Does living in Paris, using Elektron instruments et cetera become an intrinsic part of the musical result?

Yeah. I think everything in life influences what you do. Filing paperwork all day if you're a secretary or whatever, everything you do, and everything you're surrounded by influences what you do. When it's creativity, it's what I like to believe, it's part of the magic of music. If you're in some room that is very dark, there are no windows, or if you're in a garden, making stuff with your computer, it's really not the same, of course, and the result will be different. I think that's beautiful, and also when I listen to music, I like to imagine things like "I think this guy was in his university dorm room", or "he was very lonely", you know? All those fantasies you have about making music, all the elements are really important. Also, I don't know if it's true, but I like to think that it is. Everything is special, as far as music goes. Whatever surrounds you, nice people, awful people, the color of your wall, is it red? Is it blue? Everything matters, and as far as Elektron goes, I think, because the instruments, the casings, are really tidy, you know? The matte black casings. The design is important, even when you work with machines, and if it's very sober, it's going to inspire you to do some things, it's not going to inspire you to do the same things as you would on a really colorful machine. All that comes into play when you make music, even if you don't think about it. Everything matters. I like the size of the Elektron machines, too. It's not taking over you, you know? It's the perfect size for you to be able to feel that you have power over the machines, but it's so powerful and so small, so you feel like you have some kind of magic in your hands!

Is that your vocals on some of the songs on Your Heart is Weak?

Yeah! On the mixtape I did, there are also some '90:s R&B samples, like Aaliyah, Boys II Men, stuff like that.

Can you please describe your synthetic toolbox?

I use the Elektrons, of course, and I have other synths like the MS-20, the Tetra, the OP-1, which I don't use that much because mine is kind of broken, and I work in a studio that has many synths, like Jupiter 4 and Minimoog. I also like to use my Poly-800, I still use it, because I like the sound of it. I use the Emu Emax, and pedals for effects, like Moog pedals and Electro-Harmonix. I also have the Tempest, and I have a TR-606 that I like very much. One thing I really love with the Analog Keys is the DIN sync capability. I didn't know it had that when I bought it, and suddenly I realized I was able to sync the 606, and that was really cool! That's Elektron in a nutshell, for you! Don't chuck your old gear, hook it up and use it side by side with the new machines. Yeah! Also, with Elektron instruments, I feel they will fit in nicely with any other instrument. The sound get along well with a Moog, for example. 606 is perfect with the Elektrons too. Everything fits! I like to spend my money on things that I know I'm going to use a lot. Like most musicians, I don't like gadgets, I want real hardware that will last and that you can carry around and have fun with many times a day, you know!

What's your favorite way of using the Elektrons?

I'm going to be using an all-Elektron set live. I'm putting my tracks in the Octatrack and the Analog Rytm, which I just got today, and the Analog Keys too, so I'm putting that together. With the Octatrack, when I'm making music, what's incredible is that you're able to sample things, and you're able to use samples like drums, for instance, like 808 samples or any analog drum machine, and you're able to play melodies. You can do anything with an Octatrack. You can use it as a drum machine, you can use it to mix melodies, you can use it for drums and bass only, you know, anything. It's limitless. Sometimes I take the voices that I record on my computer, put them in the Octatrack, with the effects and everything, and then slice them and put them onto a beat and have fun like that. With melodies, you can record them into the Octatrack and try out different ways of arranging or layering them, this way or that way, cut it with the editor, oh, I really like to use it as a tool for doing anything (laughs)!

I Kill by Night is one of my favorite songs. What inspired you to write that?

It's one of my favorites, too! Some time ago, I was having this recurring dream: I was in a room, and I killed some people. I had to struggle to hide the bodies, and that was my main concern, it wasn't the fact that I had killed somebody! I was left with a body in a room, and I had to hide it in order to not be arrested. That was the anguish I had, and I wanted to write a song about that dream! The dream came two or three times a week, for a while. I thought I had to write about it in order to get over it!

Awesome! I'm so glad you decided to make a song about it, or, you know, who knows?

I hope you're not going to analyze the dream, because I fear it might reveal that I'm very twisted (laughs)!

Please name a couple of artists that inspire you!

The Beatles. Because of the creativity, and the freedom they had at some point, doing whatever they feel like doing. Having all these incredible people around them, for the orchestration and things like that. That was at a time when studio work was really important, too, and you can have many fantasies about how they came up with one song or another, you know? You can really dream about that time. It's really not happening right now, in this century, in 2016. Now everyone does music by themselves and they don't have that kind of studio time where everybody came and put everything together. I really love Joy Division. I used to listen to them a lot when I was younger. The dark, very melodic energy, I really like that. I also like old school soul music very much. That's what I used to listen to a lot, so I think it's a big influence on me. My sound is not that sound, but I think you can hear that the vocals are inspired by that kind of music. Soul, R&B, I listen a lot to Marvin Gaye and, right now, I'm listening to Kanye West's incredible 808s & Heartbreak. When it came out (in 2008) it was a big thing. I think I like him because he continues to experiment, as far as music goes. His productions are always interesting.

Can you share a perfect moment from your musical life, so far?

Well, I haven't met Kanye West yet, so I'll have to get back to you on that one! Being able to be creative every day, and being able to do what you feel is right, making music, that's the coolest thing that could happen to anybody. For me, that's the coolest thing ever.

Interview by Daniel Sterner