Against the grain, barely: Vitalic !

 

In the mid-90s, Pascal Arbez-Nicolas, not yet known as Vitalic, came across Daft Punk before the release of their first album, Homework. Thomas Bangalter, one of the Daft Punk duo, had him listen to some demos and — surprise — they didn't sound anything like one of the key techno tracks on the album, Rollin’ & Scratchin’. "I was astonished to hear demos that were downright disco-funk. And Thomas retorted, sure of himself: 'but Rollin' & Scratch in', we've been there, done that!' He was right. That's the difference between producing and being a musician."

Yin and Yang

Because Vitalic is, in fact, a musician — a creator, not a producer or a DJ. The four-vinyl box set he just released on his label Citizen Records to mark his twenty-year career includes his singles, important remixes, "for Étienne Daho, Indochine, Daft Punk or Björk — the only time in her career that she accepted a licence. There's also a record I'm very fond of: the collection of some of my quiet pieces." Quiet?  Vitalic ? "I'm not very hyper," he concedes. "I can stay cooped up in the studio for days, but I also like to let off steam and I enjoy life on tour, which is anything but calm. There's yin and yang." For a long time, Vitalic was uncharacteristically shy: "It was a nightmare to speak in front of five people, but I had no problem getting up on stage in front of five thousand people. As I got older, I became a little more confident, especially in my speech. When I released my first album, it was a big break with the norm, bringing in a polka, a fanfare... I said to myself: "take on board what you have done, go and defend it".

Indeed, the artist's albums came one after another, but they are anything but alike. OK Cowboy (2005) is rock-punk, Flashmob (2009) is disco, Rave Age (2012) is maximal and pop, Voyager (2017) is cosmic, and the fifth,  a two-part album, to be released in October and January, will be more techno. "Because I am very much in my element: tense, angry. At first, I felt like suppressing this natural impulse, wrongly, because you end up being afraid of everything if you do things to be reverent. Basically, I've never really done hardcore techno. There is this very heady dance floor energy, but it also opens all the doors to melody, poetry, something that takes off."

The warped Équinoxe

Flashback to Dijon, the city where he was born and raised. One day, Pascal leaves his beloved LP, Équinoxe, by Jean-Michel Jarre, in the back of his parents' car. He retrieves the precious object ... all warped. "For years, the wobbly sound of this record seemed normal to me. I thought, 'What if I play it wrong like my warped Equinox?' Since then, all my layers sound like the record got too much sun." The aspiring drummer, who became a trombonist for a while due to a lack of places at the music school, quickly swapped musical theory for the intuitiveness of machines: "I immediately loved understanding what each button did — that childlike side that still fascinates me. But at the time, this music was expensive to produce and I felt like I didn't have the necessary knowledge. Then I was able to buy a Korg MS-20 synthesizer, which looks like a telephone switchboard from the 1960s. Since it had no memory, I also created my sound by repeating the way I programmed these machines.

Vitalic created his latest avatar, Kompromat, in duet with Julia Lanoë, alias Rebeka Warrior of the bands Sexy Sushi and Mansfield.TYA, out of a common thirst for EBM (electronic body music), a kind of industrial electro layered with new wave on steroids. "We wanted the same things, not techno, not disco, not in French. We chose German, even though we don't speak it: Julia went to learn it in Germany and I'm just there on stage pronouncing the words! It's fun to be part of a duo, to joke around in the music, to not have all the eyes just on you. We've loved touring together so much that when our individual projects are farther along, we'll go back to work on a second album together."  For Vitalic, who has lived in Paris since 2013, where he loves the Rosa Bonheur guinguette for its vibe and its social engagement, the stage plays an essential role. This is reflected in the monumental sets he has created with the agencies 1024 Architecture or All Access Design. "The scenography we're going to put in place for my first Bercy, on March 12, 2022, is really crazy. It will be a kind of invisible monster; it's exciting and stressful at the same time."

OLIVIER PELLERIN

 

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Rebeka Warrior: "Vitalic is so lovely"

"He is a monument of electro and techno! I started listening to his Dima project and he helped me build my personality. We met on tour, and in 2012 he contacted me to sing on La mort sur le dance floor. For Kompromat, he wanted to do a band and I didn't. He planted a little seed, sent me some test pieces, and got his way!  He knows what he wants, he's stubborn. He didn't want to be part of certain movements, to be affiliated. He's against the grain on everything, he's just Vitalic. He's a bit like the Jean-Michel Jarre of today!"